Exploring the Potential Tourism Objects in the Small City of Heritage Lasem

Abstract

Lasem is a small town that has the potential to be a tourist destination. Located on the northern coast of Java, Lasem has three types of landscapes, namely coastal landscapes, topographical landscapes, and mountainous landscapes. The purpose of this paper is to explore the potential of tourist objects that can be developed for tourists who have an interest in visiting Lasem. The method used is descriptive qualitative with field observations and direct interviews with visitors. There are several potential tourist objects that have been explored, such as potential natural attractions, potential cultural attractions, potential social attractions, and potential attractions that are built. The results of this study are the potential natural attractions obtained from the Lasem city landscape, such as the Lasem riverbank, Caruban beach tourism, Dasun, Karangjahe, Binangun, and Watu Layar. Potential cultural attractions such as ancient buildings are the result of cultural products in the past. The products of these buildings include places of worship (three ancient pagodas, Ratanava Arama monastery, Jami' mosque, etc.) and houses with Chinese, Indies, and Javanese architecture. In addition, there is the potential of Lasem batik, which can be featured as a product of Lasem culture and the Lasem carnival festival. For potential social appeal, several community activities can be found in Lasem, namely New Year celebrations and Cap Go Meh, Ceng Beng celebrations, and others. While the potential attraction that was built is the Jami' mosque complex, where in it there is the main building, pawestren, porch, tomb complex, additional foyer, and also the Nusantara museum. Of the three existing landscapes, the topographical landscape that has the most potential is visited because, in this landscape, there is potential for cultural attraction, the potential for social attraction, and potential for an attraction that is built.