TOURISM AS A MOTIVE FORCE IN PRESERVING TRADITIONAL CULTURE (CASE OF CIREUNDEU VILLAGE)

Abstract

The village community of Cireundeu has carried out its ancestral customary traditions, among others the main thing is not to eat staple food other than cassava. This unique custom has become a strong cultural attraction for different groups of people both nationally and internationally. This makes Cireundeu Village one of the cultural tourism destinations often visited by different groups of tourists. Traditional elders argued that although there was no growth of tourism there, they should continue to carry out their cultural traditions handed down from generation to generation. In the meantime, several generations in Kampung Cireundeu do not necessarily wish to continue the tradition of their ancestors. However, with the increasing growth of tourism, the Cireundeu people started to feel some benefits from tourism development. They therefore started to strive to engage in the preservation of their ancestral culture’s traditions and customs. The purpose of this study is to see onto which extent tourism can motivate the next generation of Cireundeu Village community to preserve the cultural traditions. This study uses quantitative methods to confirm a premise from previous studies. This research found that tourism has a positive and significant influence on the motivation of the people of Kampung Cireundeu in preserving their ancestral culture. This research took 100 respondences chosen specifically on adult indigenous villagers. The questionnaire uses ordinal scale asking the respondence on how strong they agree on the given statements. The statements are representing the dimensions on each variable tested in this research. This study only covers the Cireundeu village community. The aspect under study is limited to economic, social and cultural benefits of tourism. This study uses a multiple linear regression analytical method that measures how much is the influence of tourism simultaneously on the motivation of the people of Kampung Cireundeu in preserving their ancestral culture.