According to the Vice Regent of West Manggarai, Dr. Yulianus Weng, M.Kes., 80% of the money circulation in Labuan Bajo occurs in the islands, while in the mainland only 20%. This was revealed during an audience between the local government of West Manggarai Regency and the Department of Architecture, Faculty of Engineering, Universitas Indonesia (DA FEng). This problem is the background of the community service activities of the Department of Architecture FEngin the Labuan Bajo tourist area, West Manggarai, East Nusa Tenggara.
“We offer our expertise in urban design, especially in the coastal area of Labuan Bajo. The planned output of this activity will be linked to tourism activities in the mainland,” said Ir. Antony Sihombing, MPD, Ph.D., Head of the FEngCommunity Service Team when conducting field survey activities and Focus Group Discussion (FGD) with stakeholders related to the development of tourism activities in the Labuan Bajo area on July 24 to August 2, 2022.
The FGD was attended by the Head of the Regional Development Planning, Research, and Development Agency of West Manggarai, Petrus Antonius Rasyid; Head of the West Manggarai Human Settlements, Natural Resources, and Spatial Planning Agency, Severinus Kurniadi; Managing Director of the Labuan Bajo Flores Authority, Shana Fatina; and representatives of the Human Settlements Agency, Heru. This activity is part of a series of Community Service activities themed “Development of Economic Quality and Labuan Bajo Area through Eco-Tourism”.
The Faculty of Engineering community service team offers guidance on visual space management through signage regulation. “This needs to be planned in advance to avoid visual pollution that can prevent tourists from enjoying natural scenery such as sunrise and sunset, which is one of Labuan Bajo’s biggest tourist attractions. We also feel it is very important to create easy-to-understand signage, especially for newly arrived tourists who are still unfamiliar with the area,” Antony said.
The regulation of the Labuan Bajo area also needs to be equipped with the right tools to convert the value of the area to regional income from tourism. The community service team from the Department of Architecture FEngwill also complement the guidelines with appropriate marketing and branding strategies and integrate them with the “Enchanting Bajo” slogan launched by the Government.
The strategy prepared by the Faculty of Engineering Community Service Team includes identifying the tourism target market in the Labuan Bajo area, the types of tourism that are in demand, making attractive itineraries for tourists to increase interest in traveling longer in the Labuan Bajo mainland, programs that need to be held at certain times and how to maintain sustainability so that they can make tourists want to return to Labuan Bajo again.
Met in a separate place, the Dean of Faculty of Engineering, Prof. Dr. Heri Hermansyah, ST., M.Eng., IPU said, “It is extraordinary what was initiated by the Faculty of Engineering, Department of Architecture team. Hopefully what was planned and programmed this time can be seen in the next one or two months and the results can be input for the development of Tourism in the Labuan Bajo Area.”
The community service activities of the Faculty of Engineering, Architecture Department have been held since March and will end in November 2022. The community service agenda is a routine activity carried out by the Universitas Indonesia every year. This year, Universitas Indonesia collaborated with
The Regional Government of West Manggarai Regency directed this activity to the Labuan Bajo area.
Prior to the departure of the Service Team to Labuan Bajo, UI and the local government held a zoom conference to coordinate the activities to be carried out during the field.
