PENILAIAN POTENSI WISATA ALAM UNTUK PENGEMBANGAN WISATA DI DESA WAIBAO, KABUPATEN FLORES TIMUR, NTT

Eka Safitri, Ir. Retno Nur Utami, M.P

2020 | Skripsi | S1 KEHUTANAN

Desa Waibao merupakan destinasi wisata yang terletak di Kecamatan Tanjung Bunga, Kabupaten Flores Timur, Provinsi Nusa Tenggara Timur, yang dikelola oleh masyarakat Desa Waibao. Desa Waibao memiliki beberapa objek wisata alam diantaranya Danau Asmara dan Situs Batu Bertulis Nopin Jaga. Ada beberapa kendala yang dihadapi pengelola wisata diantaranya seperti keterbatasan aksesibilitas, kualitas SDM yang relatif rendah, kurangnya promosi, dan kurangnya sarana prasarana penunjang objek wisata. Kendala tersebut kemungkinan menyebabkan permintaan pariwisata tidak dapat terpenuhi sehingga tren kunjungan wisata di Kabupaten Flores Timur menjadi fluktuatif. Penelitian ini bertujuan untuk mengidentifikasi potensi objek dan daya tarik wisata alam (ODTWA) di Desa Waibao, mendeskripsikan karakteristik dan penilaian wisatawan terhadap ODTWA, serta merekomendasikan alternatif strategi pengembangan wisata alam di Desa Waibao. Penelitian ini dilakukan di Danau Asmara dan Situs Batu Bertulis Nopin Jaga, Desa Waibao, Tanjung Bunga, Flores Timur, Nusa Tenggara Timur. Metode yang digunakan dalam penelitian ini adalah observasi langsung, survei pengunjung, dan dilengkapi wawancara dengan pengelola, serta tinjauan literatur. Penelitian dimulai dengan penilaian potensi faktor fisik dan program berdasarkan pedoman Gunn 1979, yang dimodifikasi, melalui observasi secara langsung pada 6 titik yang dipilih dengan menggunakan metode purposive sampling. Kemudian, diikuti dengan pelaksanaan survei pengunjung melalui pemberian kuesioner kepada 30 pengunjung yang dipilih dengan metode accidental sampling, guna mengumpulkan data karakteristik dan penilaian wisatawan terhadap ODTWA Desa Waibao. Selanjutnya, dilakukan juga wawancara terpandu kepada pengelola wisata untuk memperoleh data pengelolaan wisata. Data potensi fisik dan program wisata alam, karakteristik dan penilaian wisatawan yang telah terkumpul, selanjutnya diolah dan dianalisis dengan menggunakan metode analisis deskriptif. Seluruh hasil penelitian, kemudian digunakan untuk menyusun alternatif strategi pengembangan wisata alam di Desa Waibao. Hasil penelitian menunjukkan bahwa terdapat 5 titik potensi di kawasan Danau Asmara dan 1 titik potensi di kawasan Situs Batu Bertulis Nopin Jaga. Nilai potensi ODTWA yang ada di Desa Waibao adalah sebesar 85,5 (potensi tinggi). Karakteristik wisatawan didominasi oleh wisatawan yang berumur 15-23 tahun (43,3%), pendidikan terakhir SMA (73,3%), belum menikah (56,7%), daerah asal Larantuka (56,7%), dan pekerjaan pegawai swasta (36,7%). Penilaian wisatawan terhadap objek wisata adalah tergolong baik. Ada beberapa alternatif strategi yang dapat diterapkan dalam pengembangan wisata alam di Desa Waibao; yakni meliputi pengembangan atraksi dalam bentuk ekowisata, membuat itinerary perjalanan wisata, peningkatan aksesibilitas, penambahan dan perawatan sarana prasarana penunjang wisata, pelatihan SDM, memaksimalkan promosi, dan membuat peraturan desa mengenai aktivitas wisatawan.

Waibao Village is a tourist destination located in Tanjung Bunga Sub District, East Flores District, East Nusa Tenggara Province, managed by the community of Waibao Village. Waibao Village has several natural attractions including Danau Asmara (Asmara Lake) and Situs Batu Bertulis Nopin Jaga (Nopin Jaga Written Stone Situs). There were several obstacles that must be faced by the tourism managers including accessibility limitations, relatively low quality of human resources, lack of promotions, and lack of supporting tourism infrastructures. These constraints were likely to cause tourism demand were not able to be fulfilled, so that the visiting trend in East Flores District was volatile. This study aimed to identify the natural tourism object and attraction potentials in Waibao Village, to describe the characteristics of visitors and assessment of visitors to the natural tourism objects and attractions, and to provide recommendations for the alternative development strategies that could be applied. This study was conducted in Danau Asmara and Situs Batu Bertulis Nopin Jaga, Waibao Village, Tanjung Bunga, East Flores. East Nusa Tenggara. The method used in this study were direct observation, visitor survey, and interviews with managers, and literature reviews. The study was started with an assessment of potentials of physical and program factors based on the 1979 Gunn Guideline, which has been modified. This was done through direct observation to 6 points of interests chosen using the purposive sampling method. Then, it was followed by conducting a visitor survey used questionnaires as the instrument to collect the respondent data. In this survey, 30 visitors of the tourist destination (Waibao Village) were selected as respondents by using the accidental sampling method. From those respondents the data about visitors characteristics and visitors assessment on natural tourism objects and attractions was collected by using questionnaires. Furthermore, the guided interviews were also conducted to obtain the tourism management data from the tour managers. All data has been already collected, then was processed and analyzed by using descriptive analysis method. All research results were then used to develop the alternative strategies for nature tourism development in Waibao Village. The results showed there were 5 potential points of interest in Danau Asmara area and 1 potential point of interest in the Situs Batu Bertulis Nopin Jaga area. The Potential value of natural tourism objects and attractions in Waibao Village was 85.55 (high potential). Visitors characteristics was dominated by visitors with characteristic as follows; 15-23 years old (43.3%), high school education level (73.3%), unmarried (56.7%), living in Larantuka (56.7%), and private employees (36.7%). The result of the visitors assessment to the natural tourism objects and attractions showed that they were in good condition. The alternative strategies that may be applied in the natural tourism development in Waibao Village were development of ecotourism attractions, creating the tour itineraries, improvement on the destination accessibilities, visitors facilities addition and maintenance, training on tourim human resources, maximizing on tourism promotions, and creating village regulations regarding visitors activities.

Kata Kunci : Wisata Alam Desa Waibao, potensi objek dan daya tarik wisata alam, karakteristik wisatawan, strategi pengembangan wisata