Yogyakarta village promotes innovative cultural tourism

By Singgir Kartana

YOGYAKARTA (JP): When two people of different nationalities and languages try to communicate, funny things can happen.

Some, like the foreign tourists staying in Brayut tourist village, try to express what they want to local villagers by using sign language, prompting giggles from both sides.

Foreign tourists coming to the village -- which is located in Ngaglik district, Sleman regency, some 12 kilometers to the north of Yogyakarta -- do not only enjoy their time. In their spare time, some even learn cooking, batik painting, planting rice or making coconut leaf decorations from local villagers.

"The most important thing is to make the tourists happy and always remember who the customer is. It's our duty to present new things to them," said Budi Utomo, 31, chairman of the Ani-ani foundation, which manages the tourist village.

The village, which can be reached either by motorcycle, car or public transportation, looks just like any other village. There's no beautiful beach, entertainment spots or even star-rated hotels like in other tourist spots.

But the village is different as it is home to a number of houses built in traditional Javanese styles, such as joglo, limasan, pendapa and dara gepak.

With this traditional feature, Budi started to develop Brayut into a tourist village in 1995 out of his concern about the development of the tourism industry in the country which has mostly been centralized in the big cities.

"When I visited Bali, I was jealous to see that many villages had been turned into tourists centers with the members of the community being actively involved in the industry ... Then, I thought to myself, why couldn't we do the same here in Yogyakarta?" said the graduate of Yogyakarta-based Gadjah Mada University's School of Social and Political Sciences.

Some of the traditional houses were then renovated and turned into comfortable homestays costing between Rp 40,000 and Rp 50,000 per night. Roads and other supporting facilities were also repaired.

Apart from providing accommodation, other supporting factors, such as traditional performances and traditions, were also improved with the participation of local villagers who actively serve, accompany and guide tourists during their stays.

"The aim is to offer a glimpse of nature and the villagers' daily activities to tourists... Tourists come to the village not just as onlookers but can also blend in with the local people while learning about their culture," Budi said.

In promoting Brayut as a tourist village, the foundation runs various promotional packages, such as a Javanese night party, evening walk, short courses and Javanese traditional food festivals.

A Javanese night party is held to greet a group of guests by staging various traditional live performances. At the party, all of the food is served and prepared in traditional ways. For instance, instead of using plates, the villagers use coconut leaves to serve food.

In the evening walk package, guests visit unique places in the village, such as traditional buildings, or watch how the villagers cultivate their fields, do their cooking, paint batik, or prepare traditional medicine.

Guests who want to learn to speak Javanese or about Javanese dance, do batik painting or make traditional coconut leaf decorations can take a short course package. Food festivals are held every three months.

"Such promotions, however, have not yet produced satisfying results. We only get some 10 to 15 guests a month. There are many problems that are difficult to deal with," said Endang, a local villager.

Endang blamed financial and human resources factors as the main constraints in developing Brayut. Although local people are mentally prepared to receive foreign tourists, they are not technically prepared, especially as regards their mastery of English.

Despite the lack of visitors, according to Budi most guests stayed quite a long time in the village. He said most visitors spent more than a week, adding that 90 percent of Brayut's visitors were foreign tourists.