ITB Students Promote the Tourism Potential of Cilengkrang Waterfall
BANDUNG, itb.ac.id – ITB students who are enrolled in the KU4093 (Character Education) course take action to improve the facilities in Cilengkrang Village to revive its tourism potential. The activity held from 15 to 16 April was done by Group 3, led by Muhammad Dafa Ghifari Alparisi (BE'20).
Dafa explained that Cilengkrang Village is promising as a tourist destination. His group chose the Cilengkrang Waterfall as the focus of its tourism due to being the least least maintained compared to other tourist spots.
"Cilengkrang Village has enormous tourism potential if managed properly, especially in terms of its nature. One of the prominent destinations there is the Cilengkrang Waterfall. However, the Covid-19 pandemic causes the decline of visitors, and the waterfall ends up being poorly maintained. Because of this, we want to restore tourism," he added.
As the Chairman of RW 03 Cilengkrang Village, Aep said that Cilengkrang’s tourism is initially one of the residents’ jobs and has brought a good reputation for the village when it was still well managed. However, the pandemic and conflicts between Cilengkrang and Perhutani Villages caused the waterfall to gradually run out of water. With this activity, he hoped to restore the glory of the village and provide many opportunities in the future.
Group 3 members designed three projects for expanding the tourism of Cilengkrang Waterfall. The first project involves cleaning and revamping the existing facilities. The students proceed to clean up the areas near the waterfall area while improving nearby facilities and infrastructure like toilets, pipelines, places of worship, lighting, signage, waste bins, ticket counters, and many more.
As part of the second project, they promoted tourism in Cilengkrang Village, by making travel profile videos and uploading them to various social media. This can re-introduce Cilengkrang Waterfall to the public and attract visitors to go there.
ITB students also make master plans for residents to provide better infrastructure, quality of service, and tourist facilities. Doing so can increase the sense of ownership and responsibility of the locals towards managing the waterfall.
"Hopefully, our projects can attract more visitors, and the cleanliness of the place can be continuously maintained by locals and site managers. We also hope that the waterfall can gain more recognition by both local and foreign tourists," Rizka (BE'20), one of the members of Group 3, mentioned.
The tourism of Cilengkrang Waterfall does not only serve as a place of recreation, but also as a source of income and employment for the villagers. With cooperation and hardwork, Cilengkrang Village can become a successful tourism village in West Java.
Reporter: Iko Sutrisko Prakasa Lay (Mathematics, 2021)
Photo: Documentation of KU4093 Group 3
Translator: Ruth Nathania (Environmental Engineering, 2019)
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