Pengembangan Potensi Pedesaan DIY Melalui Pelatihan Pembuatan Paket Wisata Budaya Upacara Wiwitan

Abstract

Since the outbreak of Covid-19 pandemic, the Special Region of Yogyakarta (henceforth DIY) had experienced a dramatic economic downturn particularly in the tourism industry. The worst effect was faced by those who earned their living, either direct or indirect income, from tourism activities. In response to this issue, this community service program was conducted to contribute to the recovery of tourism by fostering the potency of villages in DIY as tourism villages using Wiwitan ceremony as a tourist attraction. Wiwitan is a rice harvest ritual which is an expression of gratitude because the time to harvest crop finally comes. Gratitude is also everyone’s feeling when the height of global pandemic finally is already over and people are eager to welcome the new normal. Therefore, Wiwitan is worth to be highlighted as the main tourist attraction because of its universal philosophy. To achieve the goal, a training program was carried out and used four approaches, namely lecture, discussion, hands-on practice, and simulation. The results of this activity was to open the eyes that Wiwitan can become an interesting tourist attraction.

Keywords: tourism villages, package tour, Wiwitan ceremony

Abstrak. Sejak pandemi Covid-19 Daerah Istimewa Yogyakarta (DIY) mengalami penurunan perekonomian yang tajam karena terganggunya sektor pariwisata. Dampak paling signifikan dirasakan oleh para pelaku pariwisata dan masyarakat yang memperoleh pendapatan secara langsung dan tidak langsung dari aktivitas pariwisata. Dengan mempertimbangkan masalah tersebut, kegiatan pengabdian masyarakat ini bertujuan untuk membantu pemulihan kembali sektor pariwisata di propinsi DIY melalui pengembangan potensi kawasan pedesaan di DIY sebagai desa wisata budaya khususnya melalui upacara Wiwitan. Upacara yang dilakukan sebelum panen padi ini melambangkan rasa syukur karena panen tiba. Rasa syukur ini juga dirasakan umat manusia karena puncak pandemi terlewati dan mulai menyongsong fase normalisasi. Maka Wiwitan layak dijadikan atraksi wisata utama karena maknanya yang universal bagi umat manusia. Kegiatan ini menggunakan metode pelatihan dengan pendekatan ceramah, diskusi, praktik langsung, dan simulasi. Hasil dari kegiatan ini adalah terbangunnya kesadaran peserta bahwa upacara Wiwitan dapat menjadi daya tarik wisata.