The emergence of new tourism spots that are run by local communities need to be appreciated as they can give direct economic impact to the surrounding communitiies. They are, however, need to be empowered and assisted by higher education to make the tourism spots sustainable. This topic was raised by tourism observer from UGM, Dr. Tular Sudarmadi MA., in response to such new emergence.
The Head of Tourism Study Programme at Faculty of Cultural Sciences UGM said the community based tourism spot gave such direct impact to the local community because it is run by themselves directly without involving external investors, different from those run by government that engages investors.
“It is the local community that enjoys the benefit directly," said Tular when met on the sidelines of establishment of Indonesian Consortium of Tourism Academic Study (KPSPI) in the University Club UGM on Friday (15.9).
The development of new tourism spots by local communities according to Tular showed that the communities are getting more aware of the tourism potential in their area. They are, however, need to be empowered by local governments or tourism activists and higher education, but they also became a study for academicians.
Tular announced that several universities that have tourism study programme - UGM, UPI, Universitas Pancasila, Universitas Brawijaya, and Universitas Udayana - have agreed to establish a tourism study programm consortium in order to prepare the graduates that are qualified and competitive. "The growth of tourism industry in Indonesia is expected to give direct contributions to the country's revenue. That's why it is deemed right to establish the tourism study programme consortium," he said.
The establishment of tourism consortium, said Tular, is expected to harmonise the curriculum development of tourism as well as encourage more research in tourism areas in the country.