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Advances in Social Sciences Research Journal – Vol. 9, No. 9
Publication Date: September 25, 2022
DOI:10.14738/assrj.99.13179. Sulisworo, D., Maryani, I., Okimustava, Pramudya, Y., & Nurnugroho, B. A. (2022). Night Sky Tourism Destinations: Raising
Awareness of Community Potential Score. Advances in Social Sciences Research Journal, 9(9). 519-528.
Services for Science and Education – United Kingdom
Night Sky Tourism Destinations: Raising Awareness of
Community Potential Score
Dwi Sulisworo
Physical Education, Universitas Ahmad Dahlan, Indonesia
Ika Maryani
Elementary School Teacher Education
Universitas Ahmad Dahlan, Indonesia
Okimustava
Physical Education, Universitas Ahmad Dahlan, Indonesia
Yudhiakto Pramudya
Physical Education, Universitas Ahmad Dahlan, Indonesia
Burhanudin Arif Nurnugroho
Physical Education, Universitas Ahmad Dahlan, Indonesia
Mathematic Education, Universitas Ahmad Dahlan, Indonesia
ABSTRACT
Argodadi Village is an area with tourism potential due to the construction of the
Yogyakarta International Airport route to Yogyakarta. One of the tourism potentials
in this area is the Night Sky Tour which explores celestial objects. However, this
potential has not been developed due to residents' limitations in tourism
management, skills in astronomy and using telescopes, and marketing of tourism
services. This activity aims to develop tourism destinations based on community
participation in collaboration with the Tourism Office, sub-district and local village
governments, universities, and other communities. Tour services include camping
activities, observing celestial bodies at night and in the morning, and team building
targeting children in the 5th to 8th grade-students. Promotions carried out through
social media are relatively effective by gaining the interest of 54 participants from
a quota of 35 participants. The questionnaire data found that the stakeholders
showed optimism in this destination of 5.31 out of a scale of 7. Meanwhile, the Night
Sky Tour activity participants responded with a satisfaction response of 4.82 out of
a scale of 7. The inaugural activity of this Night Sky Tour needs to be followed up in
several proposed agendas to maintain continuity.
Keywords: tourist destinations, community participation, astronomy, community
service.
INTRODUCTION
The development of new tourist destinations is a trend at this time. This phenomenon occurs
along with the level of society to show its existence in cyberspace with photos in various
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Advances in Social Sciences Research Journal (ASSRJ) Vol. 9, Issue 9, September-2022
Services for Science and Education – United Kingdom
'Instagrammable' places. The ability to determine the appropriate tourist segment will
determine the success of developing the tourist destination. Developing tourism activities are
not only a means of taking selfies but also getting an educational aspect. It is a challenge in the
world of tourism. Number of obstacles in initiating tourist destinations generally are not about
the availability of places but rather management skills (Saputra, 2020). In situations where the
community does not have enough of these skills, the presence of relevant experts for the
empowerment process is significant.
This phenomenon also occurs in people in Argodadi, DIY. On the one hand, Kepanewon (the
District) of Sedayu has declared Argodadi as an integrated tourist destination. Argodadi is a
strategic area between the Yogyakarta International Airport route and Yogyakarta. The
Department of Tourism has made a roadmap for developing tourist villages on this route, one
of which is Argodadi. The existing destinations are Praon Cawan which serves water tourism
on the Progo River (Noname, 2018) and the Kamijoro Dam, which is a spot for cycling
(Andayani, 2022). The potential raised in this empowerment program is the dark sky (low level
of light pollution). It allows astronomical observations during the night and day. The light
pollution condition can be seen through the night sky's brightness, as shown in Figure 1. The
red star symbol indicates the tourist location of the night sky. The colors on the map indicate
the brightness of the sky. Dark or dark green and green colors indicate that the sky brightness
level is high or the light pollution level is low. At the same time, the reddish color indicates high
light pollution conditions. It can be seen in Figure 1 on the top right, which is close to the center
of Yogyakarta, the color is reddish. This potential of low level of light pollution is packaged into
a tour package with several accompanying activities. In several discussions with the Bantul
Regency Tourism Office, Village officers, and the local community, this tourism service is a new
thing that requires support from various parties and interdisciplinary perspectives.
Figure 1. Map of Light Pollution in Sedayu and its surroundings. The red stars indicates the
location of the night sky tour (lightpollutionmap.info).
From discussions with residents, there is a tendency to explain that the most appropriate
approach to community culture is to provide opportunities for the community to be involved
in the initiation of this night sky tourist destination. This choice is important considering that
the long-term impact beneficiary is the Argodadi community itself. Based on participatory
management theory, when people feel a sense of participation and task involvement in a