KESIAPAN PROMOSI KAWASAN KARST BANTIMURUNG-BULUSARAUNG SEBAGAI DESTINASI ANDALAN WISATA ALAM KABUPATEN MAROS

Abstract

Maros District has Bantimurung-Bulusaraung which is interesting to be visited. This research aims to analyze the promotion readiness of Bantimurung-Bulusaraung karst area as the primary natural tourist destination of Maros District and analyze the supporting as well as instrusive factors of promotion in encouraging the tourist visits at Maros district.The nature of this research is descriptive and qualitative that takes location at the Cultural and Tourism Office of Maros District. The method used in data collection process was library research, interviews, observation, and documentation. The data were analyzed by means of qualitative Miles and Huberman techniques that concerned data reduction, data presentation, conclusion, and data verification.The result of anaysis shows that Bantimurung-Bulusaraung karst area has been ready for promotion based on environmental condition and is suitable for educational tourism. This has been segmented to account for destination for the public, researchers, and students and been targeted as destination for domestic and foreign visitors. The location is close to Sultan Hasanuddin airport and the uniqueness and beauty of its karsts account for as advantageous position in terms of tourism marketing strategy. Today, the govermnet of Maros District has focused on the rehabilitation of broken infrastructures due to occurence of flood in 2013. The government has also built some infrastructures at Bantimurung Natural Tourist Park, Leang-Leang Archeological Park, and Rammang-Rammang. The range of promotion that has been carried out includes advertisement through radio, television, internet, sale promotion in the form of ticket-reduced price, personal sale through local and national exhibition as well as direct marketing through visitation at districts in South Sulawesi. Budget, time of promotion, and the quality of human resources account  for the supporting factors of tourist visit promotion. Kabupaten Maros memiliki kawasan karst Bantimurung-Bulusaraung yang menarik untuk dikunjungi. Penelitian ini bertujuan menganalisis kesiapan promosi kawasan karst Bantimurung-Bulusaraung sebagai destinasi andalan wisata alam Kabupaten Maros dan menganalisis faktor-faktor pendukung dan penghambat promosi dalam meningkatkan kunjungan wisatawan di Kabupaten Maros.Penelitian ini merupakan penelitian deskriptif kualitatif yang dilakukan pada Dinas Kebudayaan dan Pariwisata Kabupaten Maros. Metode pengumpulan data yang digunakan adalah kepustakaan, wawancara, observasi dan dokumentasi. Data dianalisis dengan teknik melalui analisis data kualitatif Miles dan Huberman, yaitu reduksi data, penyajian data serta penarikan kesimpulan dan verifikasi data.Hasil penelitian menunjukkan bahwa kawasan karst Bantimurung-Bulusaraung telah siap dipromosikan dengan memperhatikan keadaan alam yang cocok dijadikan sebagai destinasi wisata edukasi. Segmeting kawasan karst Bantimurung-Bulusaraung untuk kalangan umum maupun peneliti dan pelajar dengan targetingnya adalah wisatawan nusantara maupun mancanegara. Lokasi yang dekat dengan Bandara Sultan Hasanuddin, keunikan dan keindahan karstnya merupakan positioning yang sangat menguntungkan strategi pasar wisata.  Dinas Kebudayaan dan Pariwisata telah mempersiapkan dan merehabilitasi sarana prasarana yang ada pada destinasi wisata tersebut. Bauran promosi yang telah digunakan, seperti periklanan melalui radio, televisi dan internet, promosi penjualan berupa potongan harga tiket, penjualan personal melalui pameran lokal maupun nasional dan pemasaran langsung dengan mendatangi kabupaten-kabupaten yang ada di Sulawesi Selatan. Dana anggaran, waktu pelaksanaan promosi dan kualitas SDM merupakan faktor yang mendukung ataupun menghambat promosi kunjungan wisatawan.