Community-Based Agro-Ecotourism Sustainability in West Java, Indonesia

Abstract

Community-based agro-ecotourism is a tourism activity that utilizes the agricultural, natural, and cultural potential of environmentally friendly rural communities as tourism objects whose management is carried out by the local community. This study analyzes the sustainability and sensitivity of attributes that affect community-based agro-ecotourism in West Java. The study used a survey method of 237 agro-tourism actors spread across five tourist villages. The five tourist villages were selected purposively to represent the diversity of agricultural commodities and the zoning of West Java’s strategic crossroads. Data were analyzed using Multi-Dimensional Scaling in the Rapid Appraisal-agro-ecotourism technique (Rap-Agro-ecotourism). The results showed that community-based agro-ecotourism in West Java was sufficiently sustainable. The social dimension sustainability index has the highest score, while the technology dimension sustainability index has the lowest score. The most sensitive attributes affecting the sustainability of community-based agro-ecotourism in West Java are the number of tourist visits, availability of transportation facilities and infrastructure, cooperation with outsiders, preservation of agricultural businesses, waste management, and cultural arts festivals. This study contributes to the sustainability of community-based agro-tourism comprehensively through economic, social, cultural, institutional, ecological, and technological dimensions, so it is expected that adding literature on agro-ecotourism and become input material in the formulation of agro-ecotourism-based rural development policies, especially in West Java.