PENGETAHUAN MASYARAKAT DALAM PENGEMBANGAN EKOWISATA BERKELANJUTAN DESA SEKOTONG BARAT

Abstract

West Sekotong Village has the potential for sustainable ecotourism development, but has not focused on directing.  Meanwhile, community knowledge is one of the basic and initial aspects in efforts to develop sustainable ecotourism. This study aims to describe community knowledge in sustainable ecotourism in West Sekotong Village. The research was carried out by qualitative methods through Rapid Rural Appraisal (RRA). The research informants are the people of West Sekotong Village who work and are related to tourism consisting of the main informant and the key informant selected with purposive techniques. The data sources used are primary and secondary data sources. The data collection technique consists of observation, interviews and documentation. Data analysis was carried out using an interactive model. The results of the study show that the knowledge of the people of West Sekotong in the development of ecotourism in their area can be seen in several aspects, including: 1). Knowledge and understanding of sustainable ecotourism, 2). Experiences related to sustainable ecotourism, 3). Community knowledge related to the potential for sustainable ecotourism development, 4). Community knowledge related to supporting facilities for sustainable ecotourism development, and 5). Public knowledge related to actors involved in the development of sustainable ecotourism. In general, it can be known that the knowledge of the people of West Sekotong in the development of sustainable ecotourism is not optimal, because the people of West Sekotong already know about ecotourism but in terms of sustainable ecotourism development is still lacking.