UNAIR NEWS – Cultural trip is a tourism activity that emphasizes nature and culture as a tourist attraction. Tourists get to experience, know, and learn the nature and foreign cultures.
In this regard, the Student Executive Board (BEM) of Banyuwangi School of Health Science and Natural Science (SIKIA) of UNAIR held the annual program, Airlangga Ethno Ecotourism (AEE 2022), on Sunday, October 30, 2022. The program aims to promote Banyuwangi tourism by inviting international essay competition finalists as a reward.
According to the Chief Executive, Alfan Hidayat Kuswinarto, the program started with an international essay competition in August. The top three finalists of the competition will get a cultural trip to Banyuwangi for three days.
“The cultural trip provides great benefits for the tourism development as the tourist attraction that can preserve the nature and cultural heritage,” he said.
Nine international students participated in the trip. Three of them were essay competition finalists, while the rest were international students with golden tickets from the organizers.
Alfan explained that the agenda provides a study tour experience for inbound students about Banyuwangi’s natural heritages. Bangsring Underwater, located on the north side of Banyuwangi, became the program’s first spot to explore.
“Today, we invite the international students to explore the nature of Banyuwangi, after learning about the cultural heritage and local arts,” he added.
The participants got to learn the tourism education on coral reefs and marine life empowerment with the local tour guides. All students were fascinated with the discussion and asked many questions after the conservation explanation was given.
Furthermore, the participants also snorkeled to see the marine life that is being preserved by the government and local tourism awareness group (Pokdarwis) firsthand.
Ho Jia Yang, the cultural trip representative said that it is her first experience enjoying the beauty of underwater life in Indonesia. She believed that it is difficult to enjoy marine tourism when she first arrived in Indonesia.
“The program provides a long-life opportunity for marine life, especially the coral reefs, which are reported to go extinct soon. Nature tourism in this town presents beauty with a decent life for the living creatures around,” said the Chinese student.
On the other hand, Alfan said that the program improves the branding of Banyuwangi and the SIKIA UNAIR. He believed that such a program gives additional value to UNAIR by increasing the locals’ economy with ecotourism branding to the international community.
Penulis: Azka Fauziya
Editor: Feri Fenoria
