Site attraction as a representation of heritage tourism: Case study of Gunung Padang Site, Cianjur, West - Java

Abstract

Heritage Tourism is used for experiencing the heritage of city, region, state or country. This travel enables the tourist to learn about local customs, traditions, history and culture. One of the tourist attractions in Cianjur, where an ancient historical megalithic site named Situs Gunung Padang could be found. Situs Gunung Padang which consists of five terraces and five levels, completely built stones. This site is the largest megalithic site in Southeast Asia. There is an enormous tourism potential owned by this site because it expresses and preserving ancient Sundanese cultural in the megalithic era. But the potential of this site seems haven’t made as a tourist attraction compared with Borobudur or Prambanan Temple. The purpose of this research is to analyze the existence of Gunung Padang site as a heritage tourism with SWOT approach to discover what factors need to be repaired. The result of this research is showing that Gunung Padang site has a huge potential if the regional governments and the locals can contribute to preserve and making this site as a tourist attraction.