Aware of the natural, socio-cultural and tourism prospects, the people of Mranggen Village, Srumbung District, Magelang Regency pioneered a Tourism Village which was named Surya Buana Tourism Village. This awareness started from the Mranggen Village Development Plan in 2018. However, this awareness has only begun to be realized in 2019 through community empowerment cooperation between Mranggen Village and Universitas Muhammadiyah Yogyakarta (UMY). It was then strengthened by the Ministry of Research and Technology’s 2020 Partnership Village Development Program (DRPM Dikti) which was led by a team of lecturers from UMY Lecturer that consists of Sutrisno, SP, MP, Dr. Ir Triwara Buddhi Satyarini and Yulianto Achmad, SH, MH, and Susiyanto, SE , MM from STIPRAM Yogyakarta.
“We started this activity with the formation and development of a Tourism Awareness Group (Pokdarwis) and pilot activities for the development of Tourism Village facilities. The support and enthusiasm of the Mranggen Village community are very high as evidenced by their participation in every activity. They believe that there is an opportunity for Mranggen to become a Tourism Village. This can be an alternative source of income considering that most of the Mranggen people work as sand miners, “said Sutrisno as the head of the Development team, Thursday (13/8).
Sutrisno added that according to Kazis Fuadi, Head of Mranggen Village, Merapi sand mining in the area around the Mount Merapi National Park (TNGM) has been limited, so alternative income opportunities for the Mranggen community must always be sought. “The village head of Mranggen Village has also established a village policy that allows the Surya Buana Mranggen Tourism Village to use the village treasury land of about 5 hectares as a central area for a tourist village. Its location is very strategic because it is on the edge of the main access road to the Jero Gorge and Merapi National Park,” said Sutrisno again.
The activities carried out by the PPDM team to strengthen the Pokdarwis institution include workshops, training in tourism village management, conducting study visits to other tourist villages, training in building structures from bamboo, training in culinary delights for local food processing, the initial construction of culinary stalls and supporting facilities, camping ground, promotion of tourist offerings, preparation of budget management, jobdesk management and tourism management regulations.
“Tourism villages can be pioneered and developed with the 4 A concept which is very popular in the world of tourism, namely actors, attractions (offerings), accommodation (facilities) and atmosphere (environmental support). Starting from this theory, the first PPDM program that was implemented is the strengthening of Pokdarwis institutions. Preparing solid, resilient and creative human resources for tourism management is very important. So, the focus of PPDM 2020 is strengthening Pokdarwis and management. The initial facilities are made as a starting point, and the following plans can be realized with various synergies of cooperation. The support of the village government in the early stages has been realized in the creation of the Joglo pavilion facility next to one of the multi-functional camping ground areas which are currently in the process building. Mrangen Village will also provide the budget for the development of the Tourism Village in the 2021 RPJMDes and register the group with the Dinas Magelang Regency Tourism, “he concluded.
