COMMUNITY PARTICIPATION IN ECO-TOURISM DEVELOPMENT IN GUSONG BUGIS TANJUNGPANDAN BELITUNG

Abstract

Not all people of Juru Seberang Village are aware of the tourism potential in the place where they live. Some people who aware of the environment are participating in efforts to convert land use, which was originally the Gusong Bugis Ecotourism location, former tin mining area, turned into tourist location. So that, the community takes the initiative to restore the ecosystem as before by developing eco-based tourism. This study aims to determine community participation in the development of Ecotourism Gusong Bugis, Tanjungpandan, Belitung. Community participation through four kinds of activities: 1). Decision-making; 2). Implementation of activities; 3). Development monitoring and evaluation; and 4). Utilization of development results. This type of research is descriptive qualitative research, is a research method that utilizes qualitative data and is described descriptively. The reason the researcher chose this research design was because the researcher wanted to describe the conditions observed in the field more specifically, transparently and in depth. As the main method of data collection, the researchers applied the interview method with the Chairperson of the Seberang Bersatu Community Forest (HKm) as the manager of Gusong Bugis Ecotourism, the treasurer of the Seberang Bersatu as community members who are considered to have direct involvement, as well as community members who participate in the provision of tour guide services and providers of food and drink. As a result of this study, it was found that the community's efforts to participate in developing Gusong Bugis ecotourism were optimal even though there were obstacles to lack of understanding in activities, especially during the implementation of activities as well as monitoring and evaluation. Thus, the researcher concludes that the participation of the Gusong Bugis ecotourism community is needed to make the location a tourist destination that is attractive to tourists, the community and managers who are members of the Community Forest  are aware and have done it seriously.