Gunung Walat, Sukabumi – The National Ecotourism Week was held on July 25-28, 2011 in Gunung Walat University Forest.
The event took place in Gunung Walat University Forest (GWUF) is the Congress of the National Tourism Student Association. This congress is the first congress and held to form a tourism student association in Indonesia that aims as a forum for tourism students in creativity in tourism.
“Indonesia’s tourism potential is very good but Indonesia is still not a major destination of the world. That is why National Ecotourism Week was held as one of the ways to reach those goals, to make the solution for tourism problems, to make the student communication forum, to open connections, and to add more friends” said Rizky Fitriana Fajrin, the 46th Batch of Ecotourism Student and the chief executive of the Indonesian Tourism Association Congress.
The initiator and host of the National Ecotourism Week were the Ecotourism Program of Diploma School of IPB.
There were 49 participants from 12 universities in Java and Bali and 20 committees from IPB Ecotourism Students.
Participants were from Ecotourism Study of Diploma School of Bogor Agricultural University, National University of Jakarta Tourism Academy, Jember State University, Airlangga University of Surabaya, Gajah Mada University of Yogyakarta, Udayana University of Bali, Bandung University of Indonesian Education, Depok Bumiputera Wiyata Tourism Academy, Pancasila University of Jakarta, Jakarta Sahid Tourism College, Tangerang Pelita Harapan College of Tourism, and Surakarta Sahid College of Tourism.
The activities of this Congress were also supervised by Ir. Tutut Sunarminto, M.Si and Ikhsan Kurnia, SE.
“Indonesia’s tourism is currently a concern for all of us. Indonesia has tremendous potential in tourism. In the ’80s to ’90s Indonesia was still above Malaysia in terms of foreign tourist visits but for now, we are far behind Malaysia with 24 million foreign tourists every year while Indonesia has only reached 7 million tourists every year. For this reason, National Ecotourism Week is held with national seminars and cultural festivals” said Ir. Tutut Sunarminto, M .Si.
“The National Tourism Association Congress aims to raise Indonesian tourism in the future. The young generation now has the biggest role for tourism in the future and here is a place to stay in touch, create a good network and make a mutual awareness to jointly build a better Indonesia in the tourism sector” he added.
The overall activities of the National Ecotourism Week started from July 18, 2011, with the agenda of the Festival of Ecotourism and Nusantara Culture which shows traditional dance, traditional games, cultural drama, and exhibitions. On July 19, the agendas are ecotourism seminar, the farewell for the 45th batch of Ecotourism students, and the 2nd Congress of the IPB Ecotourism Alumni Association. On July 25-28, the event was held at GWUF.
Activities during the event at GWUF were the introduction of participants, Congress, a formation of Indonesian tourism student associations, and added with nature tourism and tracking.
[hap]
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