The Promotion Strategy in Batu Jato Ecotourism in Sekadau Regency

Abstrak


INTRODUCTION
The human need for recreation arises from the monotonous activities or routines carried out in their daily life. A repetitive cycle of activities at one particular point would cause boredom, so people will look for pleasure activities to recharge themselves. These were the background for the existence of the tourism sector which was very promising, providing a high economic growth, and able to support the growth in other sectors.
Ecotourism is one of the current travel trends today. This type of tourism is combining between the tourism activities and the nature preserving activities. Ecotourism could be defined as a travel activity in a natural area to learn about the culture and history of the environment and preserve the surrounding area and able to provide economic opportunities to the surrounding community (Astriani, 2008). Three main things referred to the ecotourism: ecology, economic contribution, and community physiologically acceptance. The direct benefit provided by the ecotourism was the access to see, know, and enjoy the nature, intellectual, and social-cultural a group of experiences (Satria 2009). Ecotourism is a tourism activity which moves simultaneously with the nature preserving activity. Ecotourism is an ideal method done to overcome the tourism activities that usually didn't attentive to the social and environmental health aspect (Fennell, 2008).
Sekadau Regency was provided three main transportation lanes, they were Nanga Taman, Nanga Mahap, and a lane near Ketapang Regency. Sekadau Regency was also offering a beautiful and attractive tourism sites. A lack of promotional activities majorly affected the popularity of these tourism sites. Sekadau Regency was having a very beautiful nature view represented by various ecotourism sites, one of them was Batu Jato ecotourism in Pantok Village, Nanga Taman District.
Batu Jato ecotourism was a popular destination which frequently visited by the tourist in Sunday or national holiday season. Batu Jato ecotourism has natural beauty views, clear river water, and vast expanse of rocks along the river. Batu Jato tourism has a high potential to improve the community economy situation. Batu Jato tourism was also located in a very strategic location. Batu Jato tourism was offering a very beautiful view, nutrition-rich soil, and warm atmosphere. This tourism site also surrounded by beautiful and green Kekayo forest. The management parties and community was routinely conducted social services by informing the importance of a clean environment to the community who lived around this tourism site. This was very effective in maintaining the natural environment around Batu Jato to be not polluted by trash and illegal logging. : Jurnal Sosial Ekonomi Pertanian https://doi.org/10.24843/SOCA.2020.v14.i02.p09 290

SOCA
The Batu Jato ecotourism was a favorite tourist destination in Sekadau Regency. The lack of promotion activity majorly affected the popularity of this tourism site. The current promotional activities were only done by using brochures banner, and social media. Effective strategies were urgently needed in increasing the tourist visitation. According to Table 1, the number of tourists fluctuated. In June, the number of tourists who visited the Batu Jato ecotourism was significantly increased compared with the other months, but in July it was decreasing significantly, then a little bit increase from August to October. On the September to December, the number of tourist were increasing again. This could be happened due to the existence of some tourism sites which provided better facilities. Promotion strategies were required to increase tourist visits in Batu Jato ecotourism. Therefore, this study aimed to know the best strategy to promote the Batu Jato ecotourism.

RESEARCH METHODS
This study conducted in Pantok Village, Nanga Taman District, Sekadau Regency from January to October 2019. The data collection only conducted for one month, from June to July 2019. The location was chosen by purposive sampling technique. Batu Jato was chosen as the study location because it is a famous tourism object in Sekadau Regency and met all criteria for ecotourism objects.
The descriptive, quantitative, and qualitative method was employed to obtain the primary and secondary data in this study . The primary data (participant's characteristic) obtained by conducting an interview, using the questionnaire, and observation sheet. The secondary data such as village data, tourism management parties, number of visitors, study area, number of population, and population density were obtained from the National Institute of Statistics. The study population was the village office staff, tourism department, tourism object management parties, and the visitors/tourists. The village office staff, tourism department, tourism object management parties was functioned as the weight determiner, while visitors functioned as the rating determiner.
The participant was chosen by purposive sampling technique, a sampling technique done by choosing members of the population who met the certain criteria set by the researcher  and accidental sampling, a sampling technique conducted by choosing members of population accidentally, any member who met the researcher in any condition and assumed to be fit with the study criteria . There were 30 participants joined this study (Sugiyono, 2012). The key informant and supporting informant on this study were: The strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats variables identified by the internal and external environment using the promotion theory. The SWOT and QSPM analysis were employed in analyzing the data.

SWOT Analysis
The SWOT analysis consisted of the IFE matrix, EFE matrix, SWOT matrix, and QSPM matrix as the priority strategy implemented in this study. The SWOT analysis was comparing the external opportunity factor (O) and the external threat factor with the internal strength factor (S) and the weakness internal factor (W). 1. Strength: assessing the ecotourism strength to maintain the existence of this tourist attraction site. 2. Weakness: assessing the ecotourism weakness to improve the attraction of the tourism site. 3. Opportunity: analyzing and assessing the potential opportunities that capable of developing the tourism site. 4. Threats: analyzing the external environment that threatened the existence of this tourist attraction site. The threats addressed must be controlled to improve the ecotourism activities. This strategy was made according to defensive activities and created to minimalize Batu Jato ecotourism's weakness and avoid the threats from outside Batu Jato ecotourism.

QSPM Analysis
QSPM analysis was used to arrange the alternative strategy priority list. The step taken to analyze the problem based on the QSPM analysis was: 1. Strategies (from the SWOT analysis) identification.

Strategy priority selection.
Based on the strategies selected, the best strategy would be chosen to be implemented.

Promotion Mix
The promotion mix conducted in Batu Jato ecotourism were the sales promotion, public relation, and direct marketing. These promotional mix methods have been not optimally implemented.

Sales Promotion
The sales promotion in Batu Jato ecotourism aimed to maintain the amount number of tourist visit. The activities done were promoting local souvenirs, delivering friendly services, providing free grilling space, and giving lower ticket prices. The Entugun Waterfall was a competitor for the Batu Jato ecotourism. The Entugun Waterfall's ticket price for the two-wheeled vehicle was IDR 10,000 and for the four-wheeled vehicle was IDR 20.000/car.

Public Relation
The public relation activities were consisted of bounding in honor the Batu Jato ecotourism, preserving the environment around the Batu Jato ecotourism, building friendly and optimal services to the tourist. Through these activities a good public relation could be built between the communities, tourist site management parties, village office staff, and tourists.

Direct Marketing
The tourist site management parties only conducted a few direct marketing activities due to the network and promotional tools limitation. The Batu Jato ecotourism promotion was only done through some articles or videos on online platforms such as Youtube, personal blogs, and personal Facebook pages. The SOCA: Jurnal Sosial Ekonomi Pertanian https: //doi.org/10.24843/SOCA.2020.v14.i02.p09 293 local stakeholder support is required in conducting these direct marketing activities.

Internal Enviromental Analysis
The IFE matrix analysis was shown the identification of the internal factors (strength and weakness) that affected the Batu Jato ecotourism promotional activities in Sekadau Regency. The village office staff, tourism department, tourism object management parties was functioned as the weight determiner, while visitors functioned as the rating determiner. The internal enviromental analysis consisted of some strength and weakness indicator. These factor summarized in an IFE matrix: According to Table 4, the internal factors majorly affected the promotional activity. Batu Jato ecotourism is an attractive tourism site in Sekadau Regency with a beautiful natural view with a total of score of 0.514. Adequate access was also increasing tourist interest in visiting this tourism site. The highest weakness factor was the "there were no adequate promotion tools" indicator with the total score of 0.234 and "There were no promotion activity done through online platforms such as Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp, and Youtube" indicator with the total score of 0.235. The lack of promotional tools also affected the tourism site promotional activity. Inadequate internet access and publishing industry were also contributed to the lack of promotional activity through the online platform (Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp, and youtube). These were important indicators to improve the promotional activity of the Batu Jato ecotourism.
The strength total score was higher than the weakness total score. The difference between these total scores was 1.526-0.856 = 0.67. Therefore the value of the X-axis on the SWOT diagram was 0.67.

External Environment Analysis
The external environment analysis consisted of the opportunities and threats factors. These factor summarized in an EFE matrix: According to Table 5, each opportunity factor was having a high score with the value ranged from the 0.511 to 0.616. The opportunities factor "The local stakeholders were providing sponsorships program to improve the tourism activity in Batu Jato ecotourism" was obtained the highest score with a total of 0.616. These sponsorships were providing a high opportunity to the community in developing the Batu Jato ecotourism and increasing the village income.
The score of threat external factors were ranging from 0.123 to 0.242. The highest score was obtained by the low community participation with a total value of 0.242. This factor was decreasing the dynamic activity of the ecotourism site. A tourism extention was required to improve community awareness about the importance of the ecotourism site.
The opportunity's score was higher than the threat's score. This result indicated that the promotional activities were quite good and high potential to be developed. The y-axis score obtained was Y=2.210-0,508= 1.70. Figure 2. SWOT Quadrant Matrix (Promotion Strategy Position) According to the calculation of the internal and external factors on the IFE and EFE matrix in Figure 1, the value of the X-axis was 0.67 and the value of the Y-axis was 1.70. Figure 2 showed that the Batu Jato Ecotourism strategy was located on the Quadrant 1. This was indicated that the Batu Jato Ecotourism  //doi.org/10.24843/SOCA.2020.v14.i02.p09 296 highly potential to be developed through utilizing the opportunities by using its strengths. The strategy could be implemented by supporting the aggressive policies.

SWOT Analyis
The alternative strategy was formulated by using the SWOT matrix. The matrix was involving four strategies, they are: S-O strategy, W-O strategy, S-T strategy, and W-T strategy. The SWOT matrix is shown in

QSPM (Quantitative Strategy Planning Matrix) Analysis
According to the factors identified in the internal and external environment, the Quantitative Strategic Planning Matrix (QSPM) analysis was conducted. This analysis was done to choose the most effective and efficient strategy. Based on the SWOT analysis, the SO-strategy would be implemented. Table 7 is shown the result of the QSPM analysis.