Judul: Studi perencanaan pengembangan ekowisata di Arboretum PT. Arara Abadi Provinsi Riau
Abstrak: Arboretum of PT. Arara Abadi is one of the conservation area that owned by PT. Arara Abadi. Management of this area has conducted since 1998 to protect sustainability of forest resources and water in surrounding area. Beside that, its can be used for recreation, education and research. This area consist of natural forests that have natural resources and potential for development as ecotourism object. Therefore, study is needed for ecotourism development planning in this area which aims to identify both of supply and demand of this area and to arrange the concept for ecotourism development planning through supply, demand and policy approach. This study was conducted at Arboretum of PT. Arara Abadi, Riau Province from October to November 2009. Data collected in this study consist of tourism resources, facilities, accessibility, management, visitors and local communities. Data collected through questionnaires, observation and literature study. The data were analyzed with descriptive analysis, scoring analysis and SWOT analysis so that arranged strategy and the concept for ecotourism development planning. Supply aspect of this area consist of tourism resources, facilities, accessibility dan local community. Tourism resources includes species diversity of plants and wildlife, scenery and elephant attraction. This area also been equipped with various facilities. The accessibility to area is currently still quite bad. Local community will participate for ecotourism development planning, either actively or passively. Visitors come from various background. The main purpose of visitor is for sightseeing. Visitors asses that tourism resources are categorized as regular-good with the a value of 3.8 (scale 5), facilities are categorized as regular-good with the value of 3.3 (scale 5) and accessibility to this area are categorized as worst-regular with the value of 2.8 (scale 5). The condition of accessibility is the biggest obstacle for visitors. Ecotourism development strategies that could be done at Arboretum of PT. Arara Abadi includes by empowerment of local communities, establish cooperation with relevant parties, promotion, increasing security of this area, improving the management of facilities and accessibility improvements. These strategies can be applied to the concept of ecotourism development planning. There are four concepts that offer ecotourism development planning. Based on tourism supply approach, there is Jungle Exploration concept that made for all visitors from children to adult. Based on tourism demand approach, there are coach tour concept and self-guiding tour concept. For Coach Tour concept, the tour guide are needed to interpretate tourism resources on this area. On the other hand, Self-Guiding Tour concept offer interpretation board and information center for tourist. Based on policy approach, there is Environmental Learning Center concept for student who wants to learn about forest and environment. The last concept is the best concept that could be applied in Arboretum of PT. Arara Abadi because of emphasizing the value of conservation areas and provide benefits to visitors.
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