Experience in several developing countries showed that tourism can improve people’s prosperity if it is managed well by applying pro-poor tourism strategy. This strategy tries to sharpen orientation of tourism development by shortening the distribution chain of tourism. One of these is facilitating direct interaction between local people and tourists in providing or developing tourism destination and attraction. This is conducted by involving the local people to make them understand tourism decision making that is suitable with the availability and capacity of the local resources.
“The main principle is that tourism can be sustainable if it can improve people prosperity directly, particularly those who live in tourism destination areas. Therefore, the government is expected to accelerate community-based tourism development,†explained Prof. Dr. Phil. Janianton Damanik,M.Si, at UGM Senate Hall, Thursday (29/4). Â
“Its high flexibility to external changes guarantees that this community-based tourism is not easily hit by crisis,†said the husband of Thresya Andriany Hutabarat and the father of two children. Janianton Damanik said that it has several strengths in creating social prosperity because tourism units are generally in small-medium scale. That is more appropriate with the people’s management capacity; moreover, this opens wider opportunity for the local community to be the main actor in tourism. Besides, it is effective to open jobs and businesses for poor people in tourism destination areas. It is very strategic bearing in mind that their access to economic resource is very limited. “People can provide local foods, building materials or man power in many tourism businesses. This will also give psychological effect for the local people as owners of the local tourism resources,†he ended