VALUASI EKONOMI PENGEMBANGAN DAYA TARIK WISATA GOA LAWA DI KABUPATEN PURBALINGGA

Abstract

Lawa Cave is one of the Tourist Attraction in Purbalingga District. The Attraction of Lawa Cave is located in Siwarak Village, Karangreja Subdistrict, Purbalingga District and it has an area approximately 11,5 Ha. Lawa Cave is a unique cave because its shape is like a bat (Lawa in Javanese Language) and it is naturally formed by the lava of Mount Slamet, so that this Tourist Attraction is called “Lawa Cave”. The development toward this Tourist Attraction is conducted by the authorities to increase the number of tourist visits. Automatically, this development needs a lot of costs, so the assistance from the tourists by paying the development fee is needed. The aims of this research are: (1) to identify the tourists’ perception about The Tourist Attraction of Lawa Cave in Purbalingga District, and (2) to estimate the Willingness to Pay from the tourists toward the development of The Tourist Attraction of Lawa Cave in Purbalingga District. The data that are used for this research are primary and secondary data. The primary data are obtained from 105 respondents by using Multi-stages Sampling (Stratified, Quoted, and Random Accidental Sampling) and from 8 key persons by using Purposive Sampling. The results of the level of tourists perception toward The Tourist Attraction of Lawa Cave in Purbalingga District based on 8 questions in the questionnaire is the respondents evaluate the condition of The Tourist Attraction of Lawa Cave is good enough (76.9 %) and they consider that it is potential to be developed. The authorities’ concept of development planning toward The Tourist Attraction of Lawa Cave will be divided into 10 zoning. The result of Contingent Valuation Method is there is 96,2% tourists who are ready to pay the development fee (Willingness to Pay), so it obtains the average value of WTP about Rp23.500 and the total value of WTP about Rp1.066.406.500 per year. Those average and total value of WTP will be the reference of the determination of retribution (in the form of the admission price) that will be used to help the cost of developing operational The Tourist Attraction of Lawa Cave in Purbalingga District.