Economic Empowerment of The Kampung Muang Ilir Community Through “MILTOVIL” (Muang Ilir Ecotourism Village)

Abstract

Corona virus 2019 (COVID-19) has infected millions of people around the world. The impact on the economy is expected to be large and can cause the economy of a country to slump, including Indonesia. The city of Samarinda, located in East Kalimantan Province, has also felt the economic impact of COVID-19, especially in the tourism sector. A regional development strategy in Samarinda is needed to be able to restore economic productivity. The purpose of this study was to determine the potential and strategy of developing an ecotourism village that can be used in one of the villages in Samarinda City, namely Muang Ilir Village, and to determine the effect of developing Muang Ilir Village into an ecotourism village on regional economic recovery. The research was carried out in January-February 2021 in Muang ilir Village, North Lempake, North Samarinda District, Samarinda City, East Kalimantan. Data collection techniques used by the author are observation, questionnaires, interviews and documentation. The author conducted a SWOT analysis (Strength, Weakness, Opportunity, and Threats) as a basic support for research on the development of Muang Ilir Village into an ecotourism village. From the SWOT analysis that the author has done, it can be seen that Muang Ilir Village has strength or potential in natural beauty, plants, and rivers. The weaknesses of Muang Ilir Village are the absence of public transportation and traffic signs, inadequate huts and the absence of public facilities. Muang Ilir Village has the opportunity as an ecotourism village in Samarinda City which attracts tourists' attention so as to improve the community's economy. Threats that may occur are various activities that can damage the environment and natural disasters such as floods to land fires. The strategy of developing Muang Ilir Village into an ecotourism village can be done by dividing the area into three blocks. Intensive use blocks include rice fields and vacant land, divided into core zones covering infrastructure improvement as well as providing public facilities and supporting zones including procurement of souvenir stalls, rice fields, rice fields bridges, vegetable museums to local specialties. Limited use blocks utilize vacant land for nurseries with special tourism purposes for research purposes. The protection block covers the Karang Mumus River and its surrounding watershed for educational tourism. Based on survey obtained 100% of the people of Muang Ilir Village support and believe that the development of an ecotourism village will increase the economic productivity of the community. This is also supported by the results survey by 96.2% the people of Samarinda City who are interested in visiting and buying products produced by the people of Muang Ilir Village.