THE CHARACTERISTICS OF GEOTOURISM AS AN INNOVATION IN THE DEVELOPMENT OF SUSTAINABLE TOURISM IN CILETUH PALABUHANRATU UNESCO GLOBAL GEOPARK (CPUGGP)

Abstract

ABSTRACT. Ciletuh-Palabuhan Ratu area, which has geoheritage, biodiversity, and culturaldiversity, was globally recognized by UNESCO as a geopark in 2018. A way to manage geopark is geotourism, which a development of sustainable tourism in geopark area which pays attention to conservation, education, and development of sustainable economic activities. As a new policy, as stated in the Regulation of the Minister of Tourism and Creative Economy / Head of the Tourism and Creative Economy Agency Number 2/2020, it can be said that geotourism is an innovation or new idea in the development of sustainable tourism. Applying Diffusion of Innovation theory from Everett M. Rogers, this research sought to reveal the characteristics of geotourism as an innovation in terms of relative advantage, rate of compatibility, rate of complexity, rate of trialability, and rate of observability. The researchers used quantitative method to answer the research questions and descriptive statistical analysis to process the primary data, which they obtained from the questionnaire distributed to 100 respondents of Tamanjaya Villagers of Ciemas District, Sukabumi Regency. They also conducted a literature review and observations to obtain secondary data.  The results showed that geotourism as an innovation is in high category. Geotourism development is considered advantageous, compatible with the prevailing values in social systems, regulations, and community needs, applicable in a small trial, and observable by the public, either local people, tourism management, or visitors. However, in terms of complexity, the development of geotourism in Ciletuh Palabuhanratu UNESCO Global Geopark (CPUGGp) is considered complicated and not easy to implement. Thus, various authorities should continue to socialize the development of this geotourism and it is also necessary to hold various trainings in order to make it possible for the community, especially those involved in the geotourism development, to implement this new concept properly and correctly.