The Potential Of Paragliding Sports Tourism To Support Rural Tourism In Banyumas Regency

Abstract

Tourism is an important contributor in encouraging economic and business development in Banyumas Regency. This research is aimed at assessing the potential for developing paragliding activities that have been running incidentally to be developed into a sport tourism destination that can encourage tourism growth in the northern and western parts of Banyumas Regency. A qualitative approach was chosen because this study is exploratory in nature with data collection using unstructured in-depth interviews, observation, and secondary data. The study results show that this potential is worth developing considering the very limited number of sport tourism destinations in the Banyumas area and its surroundings, while there are quite a lot of sport tourism enthusiasts both as active and passive actors. Investment to improve infrastructure at destination spots and access is an aspect that must be prioritized. Paragliding sport tourism involves two villages, so it is necessary to build understanding and agreement to collaborate between stakeholders so that if the destination is developed, no party will feel disadvantaged. Conclusions and suggestions are explained in more depth at the end of this paper.