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Advances in Social Sciences Research Journal – Vol. 10, No. 7
Publication Date: July 25, 2023
DOI:10.14738/assrj.107.15115
Nabilah, A. F., Safitri, R., & Prasetyo, B. D. (2023). Tourism Communication Strategy Pokdarwis Edelwais in Building Environmental
and Culture-Based Ecotourism in the Village of Ranu Pani. Advances in Social Sciences Research Journal, 10(7). 229-236.
Services for Science and Education – United Kingdom
Tourism Communication Strategy Pokdarwis Edelwais in Building
Environmental and Culture-Based Ecotourism in the Village of
Ranu Pani
Alfi Fatin Nabilah
School of Communication Sciences,
Brawijaya University, Malang, Indonesia
Reza Safitri
School of Communication Sciences,
Brawijaya University, Malang, Indonesia
Bambang Dwi Prasetyo
School of Communication Sciences,
Brawijaya University, Malang, Indonesia
ABSTRACT
In terms of geomorphology and socio-culture, Ranu Pani Village has a lot of tourism
potential that can be developed. However, this tourism progress does not go hand
in hand with environmental sustainability in Ranu Pani Village. In minimizing the
impact of natural damage caused by many factors, Pokdarwis Ranu Pani initiated a
tourism concept that is based on local wisdom and is sustainable. This is known as
the concept of ecotourism. Pokdarwis cooperates with various elements to realize
ecotourism in Ranu Pani Village. This research uses a descriptive method with a
qualitative approach. Researchers made direct observations in the field to collect
data by conducting interviews, observation and documentation. The results showed
that the tourism communication strategy carried out by Pokdarwis Ranu Pani was
effective because it was supported by good synergy between Pokdarwis when it
involved the government, community, outsiders, academics and institutions related
to ecotourism in developing ecotourism in Ranu Pani Village.
Keywords: Tourism Communication Strategy, Ecotourism, Pokdarwis.
INTRODUCTION
Tourism is a sector that continues to study its sustainability to date because this sector is
considered to be a significant contributor to foreign exchange and GDP (Gross Domestic
Product) for the country (Ministry of Tourism and Creative Economy, 2020). Seeing this
potential, the Government of Indonesia has begun to manage the Indonesian tourism industry
as an important component whose existence is starting to be considered because this is
considered to be a source of state income which, of course, will have an impact on improving
the community's economy in the future.
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Advances in Social Sciences Research Journal (ASSRJ) Vol. 10, Issue 7, July-2023
Services for Science and Education – United Kingdom
Departing from this fact, the Government of Indonesia, in this case, the Ministry of Tourism and
Creative Economy (Ministry of Tourism and Creative Economy), sees tourism in Indonesia as a
tremendous development potential. This statement is supported by the establishment of 10
priority tourism areas by President Joko Widodo as stated in the Presidential mandate, through
the Cabinet Secretariat letter Number B 652/Seskab/Maritim/2015 dated November 6, 2015,
concerning the Mandate of the President of the Republic of Indonesia relating to Tourism and
Presidential Directions at the Early Year Cabinet Meeting on January 4, 2016 (Agmasari, 2019).
The regulation regarding the 10 Priority Tourism is known as the 10 New Bali program. The
Government agreed to focus on accelerating the development of the program, which began in
November 2017 to boost tourism distribution in Indonesia. So it is hoped that this program can
further increase the economic level of people around the tourist area (Agmasari, 2019). The ten
priority tourist areas include Labuan Bajo, East Nusa Tenggara; Mandalika, West Nusa
Tenggara; Lake Toba, North Sumatra; Morotai Island, North Maluku; Wakatobi, Southeast
Sulawesi; Tanjung Kelayang, Bangka Belitung Islands; Borobudur, Central Java; Tanjung
Lesung, Banten; Bromo Tengger Semeru National Park, East Java and the Thousand Islands, DKI
Jakarta (Putra, 2018).
One of the villages that have become the focus of the Government in developing ten priority
tourism areas is Ranu Pani Village, which is located on the west side of Lumajang Regency, to
be precise, in the Bromo Tengger Semeru National Park Area. Ranu Pani is a village with an
altitude of 2100 MASL, which is included in one of the lists of the highest villages in Indonesia
(Sushmita, 2022). Its location in the highlands makes Ranu Pani Village have cooler
temperatures and beautiful mountainous landscapes. In addition, the majority of the population
of this village are residents of the Tengger tribe who are still attached to their cultural activities.
So that not infrequently, tourists enjoy the natural scenery, atmosphere, and culture in this area.
The Government and residents have taken various methods to increase tourist visits to Ranu
Pani Village, including marketing, increasing accessibility, building destinations, and improving
the quality of tourism resources and institutions.
Land clearing cannot be avoided as there are many developments and developments in an area.
This is supported by a statement from Limbong & Soetomo (2014) that a tourism area cannot
be separated from the development and use of land to create infrastructure. The higher the
intensity of visits by tourists, the higher the potential threat to the environment that will be
caused. In addition to constructing infrastructure that will take up a lot of green space, visitor
waste also causes environmental damage in tourist areas. Tourism, on the one hand, helps the
economic growth of a region but will backfire on its natural preservation.
The dynamics of environmental damage, which impacts decreasing the quality of the ecosystem
of an area, also occurs in Ranu Pani Village, Lumajang Regency. According to a presentation
from Walhi in 2021, there are 2,139 hectares of damaged forest out of 50,276 hectares, or
around 4% of the total forest in the Bromo Tengger Semeru National Park area. This is due to
forest encroachment, forest fires, land clearing, and other issues that cause damage. According
to Pinto (2016), one of the damaging factors around the tourist area is due to efforts to increase
income that are not in line with the concept of environmental sustainability. Many seek profits
without looking at aspects of natural sustainability, causing ecological damage in several areas.
Some causes of damage in the Ranu Pani area are forest encroachment, sedimentation,
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Nabilah, A. F., Safitri, R., & Prasetyo, B. D. (2023). Tourism Communication Strategy Pokdarwis Edelwais in Building Environmental and Culture- Based Ecotourism in the Village of Ranu Pani. Advances in Social Sciences Research Journal, 10(7). 229-236.
URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.14738/assrj.107.15115
pollution, disposal of plastic waste, and tourism management that does not consider ecological
aspects in a balanced way.
Based on the observations and interviews that researchers conducted, Ranu Pani Village
experiences yearly mud floods. According to Maya (2020), apart from being caused by high
rainfall, this is due to a large amount of land clearing, planting systems that are still traditional
(not terraced) by residents, and forest fires around the area that have not been restored. So that
it causes the water catchment area to decrease and cause flooding, another problem is a large
amount of plastic waste from tourism activities that are thrown away without any recycling or
other utilization process, so it is not uncommon to find a lot of plastic waste around the Ranu
Pani area itself. Apart from the use of hilly land for farming and tourism activities that do not
look at ecological aspects as described above, the quality of the sustainability of the Ranu Pani
ecosystem is threatened with decreasing due to the significant silting of the lake every year and
the presence of the invasive plant Salvinia molesta. Departing from these concerns, Pokdarwis
took several concrete steps, namely by inviting several stakeholders and establishing
communication with the community to find concrete solutions to the crises in Ranu Pani Village
through the application of the ecotourism concept.
The presence of ecotourism is also considered capable of mediating between conservation
interests and economic interests (Karim et al., 2019). According to research by Aryunda (2011),
applying ecotourism can also increase people's income. Aryanda explained that people who
have businesses in the tourism sector have experienced a 79-100% increase in revenue. The
same thing was conveyed by (Waylen et al., 2009) in their research; they revealed that
ecotourism is one of the right steps in improving the community's economy without ignoring
conservation principles. Developing sustainable ecotourism requires a set of strategies that
become a reference in communicating the importance of environmental sustainability in
establishing a tourism destination.
LITERATUR REVIEW
Tourism Communication Strategy
Strategy is defined by Effendy in Prigunanto (2014) as a planning and management effort to
achieve a goal. According to him, in achieving the goals that have been proclaimed, it is
necessary to have a map as a guide and show tactics in operations. Meanwhile, Tourism
Communication is defined as a study that develops in a multilinear manner that examines how
the field of communication studies is used in efforts to advance tourism (Bungin, 2017, p. 92).
Based on this explanation, the Tourism Communication Strategy can be interpreted as a
reference for allocating various resources and efforts to achieve goals in developing and
developing tourism in an area.
Ecotourism
Ecotourism is defined by Tsaur et al. (2006) as a branch of the tourism sector that focuses on
community contributions to sustainable development. The purpose of ecotourism according to
Ceballos-Lascuráin & Héctor (1996) is to provide experiences of interacting with nature,
preventing environmental damage, communicating with local communities, and also aims to
increase cultural and environmental awareness in an area. There are many definitions of
ecotourism, but they have the same core, namely a tourism activity that has characteristics