Recommendations for the initiation of agro-tourism establishment in Hujungtiwu Village, Panjalu District, Ciamis Regency

Abstract

Hujungtiwu village has several attractive features such as agricultural and agroforestry commodities, mountainous scenery with Gunung Sawal as the background, and location in high altitude with cool climate and cold water. This potential plus the fact that many youth were laid off due to COVID-19 pandemic awake villagers to develop a new tourist village with agro tourism concept. Through focus group discussion, field observation, and field survey in other tourist destinations in Gunung Sawal Region to see the trend of tourism in this region, data were collected. The data then descriptively analyzed to map the detail potentials, opportunities, and challenges, in order to propose strategies to start the development of a tourist village. The role of village government is important in allocating village funds for this project, such as creating a village owned enterprise (BUMDES), capacity development of tourism activist actors, starting a small-scale business i.e. café that is currently experiencing a positive trend in Gunung Sawal Region. Too massive development will pose a high risk, given that village funds are also needed for purposes other than developing tourist destinations, especially during the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. The essence of the initial development of this tourist spot is to introduce new tourist sites to the wider community and introduce rural communities to the management of a tourist destination, while waiting for the process of developing new entrepreneurial capacities. If the community response is good, business expansion that emphasizes more on the core business of agro tourism can be started little by little.