Villages located on the periphery often face challenges due to their distance from central urban development, leading to lagging in various sectors, particularly microeconomic development. This situation is evident in Wisma Kerta Village, Sidemen District, Karangasem where the necessary infrastructure for fostering microeconomic growth is still lacking. The microeconomic backbone is still limited to individual economic units, primarily households, which are relatively few in number, as most of the local population consist of farmers. Consequently, many residents have chosen to migrate to cities in search of better job opportunities and livelihoods. This condition requires urgent attention and efforts to improve the skills of the village community. Informal training plays a crucial role in revitalizing the village economy, with the potential to foster the production growth of small and medium industries. Training programs in tourism sports, such as cycling, trekking, hiking, outbound activities, massage, and yoga have been developed by Undiksha’s academics, led by Prof. Dr. I Wayan Muliarta, S.Pd., M.Or., AIFO with team members Dr. I Ketut Yoda, S.Pd., M.Or., Prof. Dr. I Wayan Widiana, S.Pd., M.Pd., and Dr. Luh Putu Tuti Ariani, S.Pd., M.Fis.
With the title Community Service, this program represents the first step to managing and maximizing the potential of Wisma Kerta Village. This program focuses on creating trekking, hiking, cycling, and outbound routes, along with packages for massages and yoga while also enhancing participants’ proficiency in English for tourism guiding. By empowering local partners to manage their region’s natural and cultural resources through the principles, this initiative seeks to ensure the local community actively participates in, rather than merely observes, the rapidly expanding tourism industry.
This community service initiative has several key objectives: (1) understanding the management of natural resources and culture based on sport tourism, (2) comprehending the positive and negative impacts of tourism, (3) understanding the role of tourism and community involvement in managing sport tourism packages (4) development skill in modern promotional technique, (5) acquiring entrepreneurial skill, (6) mastering guiding in English technique, (7) learning method to create engaging sport tourism package, (8) understanding the management of sport tourism package, (9) mastering guiding method, (10) learning marketing strategies for sport tourism package, (11) producing brochures and flyers for sport tourism package, and (12) publishing accredited journal articles at SENADIMAS, HKI.
This program was conducted from August 9 to 11, 2024, at the Balai Banjar Tengah/Bulu Dusun Wangsean Wisma Kerta Village. The opening ceremony was attended by the Head of Village, traditional village leaders, and local government officials. And it was also attended by Pokdarwis Klungah Hamlet and PkM target partners. This PkM initiative is expected to provide significant benefit to the partners, Wisma Kerta Village and broader community. Participants were already guided and provided with information on developing a sport tourism package aligned with the principles of sport tourism. They have also received training on creating and managing sport tourism packages, which ultimately serve as a source of livelihood, improve community welfare, and reduce urbanization. This program supports the government’s efforts to train and empower communities in self-development and economic enhancement.
