Development of Bird Ecotourism into Tourism Destinations Based on the Important Bird Areas (IBAs) in Gunung Gede Pangrango National Park, West Java Province

Abstract

The Bird ecotourism has potential and plays an important role in ensuring the sustainability of bird species diversity. The existence of certain types of birds is a potential attraction for avitourists to come to visit and observe birds in their natural habitat. Tourism destination such as Gunung Gede Pangrango National Park which is also part of Important Bird Areas where the existence of rare bird species will be very important, for that the preservation of the area must be maintained. The purpose of the study is to identify the biodiversity, namely species of plants and birds species in Gunung Gede Pangrango National Park. This is to ensure the level of diversity and species sustainability and as a guarantee of sustainability in the future. This research was conducted for 3 months in the National Park of Gunung Gede Pangrango areas and used qualitative method by conducting-depth interviews with the tourists and managers of the National Park regarding biodiversity. The result of the study show that tourists have a high level of preference for participating in bird ecotourism activities and the community around the area agree with bird ecotourism activities which also have a lot of positive impacts on them such as being able to make the relationship between the community around the National Park area and area managers well maintained.