Pentagen Village is one of the villages awarded the Indonesian Tourism Village Award (ADWI) 2022 for the homestay category. The inclusion of Pentagen Tourism Village as one of the recipients of ADWI in 2022 serves as an entry point for various parties to assist this village in its continuous development.
The Ministry of Tourism has requested ITB to also contribute to the improvement of the quality and capacity of Pentagen Tourism Village. As known, ITB has the Center for Tourism Planning and Development (P-P2Par), the oldest tourism research center in Indonesia, which has long been involved in the development of National tourism.
The Institute for Research and Community Service (LPPM) of ITB, through the Head of P-P2Par, Prof. Dr. Ir. Heru Purboyo Hidayat Putro, DEA., initiated the Quality Tourism Development Program in Pentagen Tourism Village, Lake Kerinci, Jambi. The team involved in this activity consists of Abadi Raksapati, M.Sc., Rikeu Rugarmika, S.T., M.Par., Syafira Ayudarechta T, S.Ant., Marisa Yuliana Dewi, S.T.
The head of the LPPM team, Abadi, stated, "Our arrival in Pentagen village is to bring three programs for the development of quality tourism in Pentagen Tourism Village, namely Capacity Building Assistance, Tourism Product Development Assistance, and Homestay Development Assistance."
Currently, Pentagen Tourism Village only has one tourist attraction, namely Pertiwi Park. The existence of Pertiwi Park is crucial in supporting the sustainability of the tourism village; therefore, there is a need for alternative tourism products that can be developed by Pentagen Tourism Village.
Abadi also mentioned that the tourism products developed in Pentagen village include Agrotourism, Educational Tourism, tour package development, and homestay development.
"The assistance in creating tour packages includes identifying tourist attractions, determining the duration, setting package prices, selecting homestay locations, and assigning responsibilities for each point, followed by simulations conducted by Pokdarwis in receiving domestic and international tourists," he said.
From these three main requirements, the ITB team and Pokdarwis identified 7 houses with 8 rooms that can be used as homestays. This serves as sufficient capital for homestay development in Pentagen Tourism Village.
The ITB Institute for Research and Community Service team conducted a socialization session with homestay owners regarding the selection of these houses as homestays.
"Some of the points conveyed to homestay owners include the importance of maintaining cleanliness, being open to outsiders and being friendly, ensuring the availability of electricity and water supply, offering diverse and typical Pentagen breakfast menus, and providing assistance to improve homestay facilities such as Bed Cover packages, room equipment packages including mirrors, trash bins, clothes hangers, and doormats," said Marisa, one of the ITB team members.
All activities carried out by the ITB team are fully supported by the Kerinci Regency Tourism Office and the Pendung Talang Genting Village Government. Specifically, the village government is directly accompanied by the Chairperson of the Pentagen Village Consultative Body, Abdul Basit, the Secretary of Pentagen Village, Mr. Hatim, and the community figure of Pentagen Village, Mr. Usman.
These activities received excellent appreciation from Pokdarwis through its chairman, Azim, who is a young resident of Pentagen Village and is expected to become the backbone of Pentagen Village's development in the future. Training and capacity building for Pokdarwis must also be a focus to ensure that the human resources quality in Pentagen Tourism Village continues to improve.
The Secretary of Pendung Talang Genting Village, Hatim, expressed, "During this training, it was well received by the community and the village government of Pendung Talang Genting, where the training program implemented by ITB will be very beneficial in the future for improving the village's economy."
"In the training conducted by the ITB LPPM team, it is very useful for our community in establishing the Tourism Awareness Group (Pokdarwis), emphasizing the importance of cleanliness in small and medium industries, and collaborating with various stakeholders to realize a developing and sustainable tourism village, which is highly beneficial for improving the community's economy," Hatim added. (*)
