The Development of Educational Tourism in the Area of Mount Penanggungan Through Community Empowerment

Abstract

ASEAN Economic Community (AEC) is an integration of ASEAN economy in facing the free trade between ASEAN countries. Naturally, this will affect various sectors including tourism. Indonesians are expected to be able to cope with this challenge. One of the fullfillments of the expectation is the development of a strategy of society empowerment through Community Based Tourism Development (CBT). In this CBT development, University of Surabaya is developing an Educational Tourism. The interest in educational tourism has been rising in the recent years. Especially students who are from educational institutions in metropolis. This paper displays a case study about the University of Surabaya which is developing educational tourism called Penanggungan Adventure which comprises 3 type of items namely eco-tourism, heritage tourism, and rural tourism which are based on the empowerment of local people around Mount Penanggungan. The method which is used is single case study, the data are collected through observation, interviews with the pioneers and the practitioners of Penanggungan Adventure, interviews with local people and document collection. Some results are acquired. First, the tourism is packed in customizable and combinable modules, for instance Archeological Trail, Bio-Diversity and Animal Watching, and Happy Farming. Second, the procurement of First Aid Clinic dan Signage System.Third, the marketing media are video, brochures, posters, books, tourism map, website, e- guide and x-banner. Fourth, in the early stage of educational tourism, local people take part by being tour guide to serve visitors since the training has been completed. Local peole also take part in providing traditional snack which is packed in creative design. The findings of the case study could be the model of consideration for other educational tourism developments