Abstract:
Tourism is multi-sector industry that continues to grow and an important aspect that contribute towards
economic growth, especially in Indonesia. One type of tourism that is currently popular is geotourism.
Geotourism aims to improve the geographic characteristics of a place, such as environment, culture,
aesthetics and welfare of its inhabitants. In addition, there are needed of concepts in the development
of Geotourism, which is distinctiveness. Distinctiveness itself is an aspect that creates interest between
a tourist location and its visitors. One of the factors affecting distinctiveness in a place that is the
uniqueness of the destination itself. Uniqueness can affect the image of a tourist spot by providing
unique experiences to the tourists, which include culture, lifestyle and geological features. Muara
District is one of the tourist attractions located around Lake Toba and has great potential as a
geotourism object in North Sumatra. However, the existence of Muara District is still not prominent
when compared to the other tourism spots around Lake Toba. Therefore, this study was conducted to
examine the uniqueness of Muara District using a mixed research method, where data collection was
through observation, interviews and questionnaires to more than 100 respondents. The results showed
that the uniqueness of Muara District was still less prominent, which was caused by the lack of
promotion and cultural activities in the place, as well as the lack of cleanliness at the tourist attractions
in Muara District. |
