Invasive Plants Species and the Competitiveness of Wildlife Tourism Destination: A Case study of Sadengan Feeding Area at Alas Purwo National Park.

Wildlife tourism has been promoted at Alas Purwo National Park (APNP) since the national park was identified as one of the center of biodiversity in Indonesia. Sadengan feeding area (SFA) was established and opened for wildlife tourist destination since 1970 due to the animal diversity and abundance. The quality of destination has been recognized as a main factor for tourism destination competitiveness.

This study examined the current condition of SFA related to the vegetation structure, number of Bos javanicus as flagship species for conservation and tourism object, and domestic tourist perception toward SFA as a wildlife tourist destination. Field study was undertaken at dry period at SFA-APNP. Line intercept method was used to determine vegetation structure, while number of Bos javanicus was assessed by direct counting method.

Domestic tourist perception was assessed by semi-structured interview with the local tourist as respondents, followed by service quality score (SERVC) analysis. Results showed that five most important species related to value index were Cassia tora, Eupatorium inulifolium, Lantana camara, Cyperus brevifolius and C. iria. Three of them, C. tora, E. inulifolium and L. camara were known as a non-indigenous plants species and become invading species to SFA.

The current census showed that the abundance of Bos javanicus was less than 10 individuals and seems to decrease by time. Furthermore, it seems that the low number of Bos javanicus found in SFA may lead tourist dissatisfaction. This was demonstrated by negative gap values between tourist expectation and tourist perception among respondents. This indicates that most of local tourist expectation did not meet with tourist expectation. The study suggests that habitat management of SFA as a wildlife conservation area and wildlife tourist destination need serious attention to meet conservation objectives and improving SFA as wildlife tourist destination.

Taken from :  Hakim, Luchman et al. 2005. Invasive Plant Species and the Competitiveness of Wildlife Tourist Destination: A case of Sadengan Feeding Area at Alas Purwo National Park. Journal of International Development and Cooperation.