Tourism Industry and Community Readiness: A Case Study of the Mandalika Special Economic Zone (KEK)

: The local community of Kuta Mandalika Village is required to adapt to the regional tourism industry as the spearhead of tourism operations in the Special Economic Zone for Tourism in West Nusa Tenggara. As a result, researchers aim to see how prepared the residents of Kuta Mandalika Village are to welcome tourism to their village. The cognitive, emotional, and conative components all play a role in community readiness. The community at Kuta Mandalika Village was studied using a qualitative research method. In-depth interviews and a non-probability sample strategy were used to identify relevant informants in this study. For the first phase, snowball sampling was chosen as the data collection strategy. According to the findings, the community of Kuta Mandalika Village are well prepared to host tourism activities in the Mandalika Special Economic Zone. However, they are not yet prepared to participate in the tourism industry. The village is in the process of transitioning to a tourism-based society. The phenomena of rapid tourist development pushe the community as hosts, who are directly affected by tourism, to prepare themselves in an indirect way. The government, academics, and the private sector all have a role to play in helping to develop the surrounding community in terms of the capital and skills that the industry requires.


Introduction
Indonesia is a country that has abundant natural resources if managed properly.By creating the area into a tourist destination.Exotic natural resource-rich areas are likely to contribute significantly to generating revenue.Furthermore, because of regional autonomy, a district or city must be self-sufficient.The key quality of a region capable of implementing autonomy is regional financial capacity, which means that the area must have the authority and competence to investigate financial sources, manage, and use its own money to fund government administration (Halim, 2001).In recent years, Indonesian tourism has exploded.Tourism's contribution to the country's foreign exchange has continued to rise in recent years, even exceeding the government's aim.In 2015, the foreign exchange target from tourism was Rp.144 trillion and Rp.175.71 trillion was achieved.Foreign exchange revenues from tourism also exceeded the government's aim in 2016 and 2017.The Indonesian government expects the tourist sector to contribute 15% of the country's GDP in 2019.Meanwhile, the tourist sector is expected to generate Rp.140 trillion -Rp.150 trillion in foreign money in 2019, up from Rp.140 trillion -Rp.150 trillion in 2018.
West Nusa Tenggara Province, being a tourist destination province in Indonesia, continues to work to improve its tourism.The development of tourism is undoubtedly based on the tourism potential it possesses, such as beach tourism, culture, crafts, and nature.One form of government attention in the context of developing tourism in West Nusa Tenggara is the issuance of Government Regulation Number 52 of 2014 concerning the Special Economic Zone (KEK) of Mandalika, West Nusa Tenggara.Apart from mandalika, there are several other Special Economic Zones in Indonesia, namely: Morotai in North Maluku Province and Tanjung Api -Api in South Sumatra.The Mandalika Special Economic Zone is concentrated on economic development in the tourism sector which is expected to accelerate economic development in Central Lombok Regency, West Nusa Tenggara Province.
The environmentally green concept and event-based destination will be used in the construction and development of the KEK Mandalika.The tourism facilities that will be created must meet eco-friendly criteria in order to boost the area's resale value.Meanwhile, the event-based destination concept emphasizes the provision of international standard non-accommodation tourism facilities which can later become an attraction for tourists to enjoy the beauty of the Mandalika Lombok tourism area (Bappenas, 2016).
In terms of infrastructure, the development of the KEK Mandalika so far has shown quite encouraging progress, although it is still far from satisfactory.In terms of the number of tourists, the total number of tourists in 2014 was 104,720 and continued to increase until 2017 to 200,483 tourists.However, in 2018 the number of tourists decreased drastically to 153,715 (Statistics of Lombok Tengah Regency, 2019).When referring to Muktiaji research (2019), the education level of the population in an area is directly proportional to the increase in economic activity in various sectors.This is in line with the current conditions in Central Lombok.Most of the population of Central Lombok have elementary education, as much as 98%, while only 61% have high school/vocational education (Statistics of Lombok Tengah Regency, 2019).
The Mandalika Resort Special Economic Zone (KEK) is concentrated on economic development in the tourism sector, has been, will be and is being developed which is expected to accelerate economic development in Central Lombok Regency, West Nusa Tenggara Province, as well as to support the acceleration and expansion of Indonesia's economic development.The tourism facilities to be built and developed include high end and low-density hotels, villas, apartments, resorts, residential.Also equipped with 18 holes golf course, leisure/recreation facilities, medical/wellness center, training center, art village, marina and so on.The construction and development of the KEK Mandalika will also apply the eco green concept and event-based destination.With the eco green concept, tourism facilities to be built must be of eco green standards so that it will increase the selling value of the area.Meanwhile, the concept of event-based destination will highlight the provision of international standard non-accommodation tourism facilities that will attract tourists while enjoying the beauty of the Mandalika Lombok tourism area.
The efforts to manage tourism destination objects in Central Lombok Regency have had positive results, as evidenced by the growing number of tourists that visit.In 2016, 614,906 people visited tourism attractions in Central Lombok Regency, including 480,154 foreign tourists and 134,752 local tourists.In the previous five years, 2014 was the most popular year for tourists to visit tourist attractions.Tourist attractions are more appealing to foreign tourists than they are to domestic ones.Around 78 percent of foreign tourists visited tourism sites in 2016 (Statistics of Lombok Tengah Regency, 2017).
In addition to building a tourist attraction, the development of human resources around the object is also very necessary.According to Hadiyanti (2017), knowledge and skills are provisions for action and reflect the embodiment of personality, attitudes, behavior, and actions.Humans have valuable potential as capital to be involved in the development process.These potentials are physical potential and human potential.Physical potential is a human physical form, while human potential is understood as something that is not physically visible.Human potential includes intellectual abilities which include abilities and skills as a unit of competence.Intellectual development will produce something innovative as a result of the process of education, training and experience, as well as interaction with the environment.
Tourism perceptions, according to Hall and Page (2014), are linked.They think that people's views are crucial in determining, measuring, and analyzing tourism consequences.Building a good perception is necessary to harmonize the development process because perception is vital in creating a person's decision on something.Perception, according to Atkinson et al. (1991), is the process through which we perceive and organize environmental stimuli patterns.According to Dar and Haryana (2014), public perception can be a hindrance to development, and one way is to prepare local populations through tourism education.
According to Tjokroamidjojo (1976), the fundamental development policy must pay attention to the community's condition in terms of the community's socio-economic growth rate's suitability.The calculated repercussions include crime and vandalism, workforce recruitment and rejection, as well as evaluating the economic feasibility and carrying capacity of infrastructure (Yuwono, 2010).According to Sajogyo (1990), in order to construct a society with a developing economy, an incentive structure must be in place to encourage residents to enhance their job activities, their desire to be frugal and save, and their courage to make radical changes to old ways.
According to Syahza (2007), development of an area, particularly rural areas, must be done in accordance with the nature and characteristics of the place.Rural development must be guided by four primary initiatives.First, empowering the economy of rural communities.In this effort, capital input and guidance on the use of technology and marketing are needed to help the community become independent in taking advantage of the available opportunities; second, improving the quality of rural human resources so that they have an adequate basis for increasing and strengthening productivity and competitiveness; third, infrastructure development in rural areas.For rural areas, transportation infrastructure is an absolute necessity, thus spurring the backwardness of rural communities; and fourth, building rural institutions, both formal and non-formal.The institutions needed by the countryside are the creation of good services, especially in spurring the rural economy such as financial institutions, Bumdes, Pokdarwis, and other institutions in accordance with the development plan.
There have been a number of studies on community preparedness, particularly for the villagers.There are at least three reasons why community readiness research is crucial in developing villages that are ready to face the tourism sector: First, there is the issue of establishing tourist communities in order to improve the community's quality of life.Because the village is a system that is closely tied to the structure of the Indonesian state, maximizing the welfare of rural communities in the context of national development is a macro concern (Satriawan, 2015).
Second, rural communities, as subjects affected by tourist policies, play a critical role in promoting village tourism development.Several evidence indicate that the community's willingness to support village development still requires significant consideration.However, the most important component in deciding whether a policy can be implemented successfully is community readiness (Orbawati et al., 2020).Third, the village might be viewed as a little state because of its street-level bureaucracy (Orbawati et al., 2020).However, it seems that the research in the community readiness is still very underused in evaluating some policies in the tourism sector, especially in Special Economic Zones (KEK), such as the Mandalika SEZ (KEK Mandalika).
Therefore, the readiness of human resources in Kuta Mandalika Village which is used as a development location plan must be able to meet the aspects of readiness in terms of cognitive, affective, and conative components in order to be able to take advantage of the Mandalika Special Economic Zone (KEK) (Rapoport, 1977).This study attempts to determine the community's readiness in Mandalika Special Economic Zone (KEK Mandalika), particularly in Kuta Village, based on the description provided.

Research Method
The purpose of this study was to determine the effect of community readiness in Kuta Village in the KEK Mandalika.The aim is to make a systematic, factual and accurate description of the facts, characteristics and relationships between the phenomena studied.Things that will be looked at in depth include factors that support the readiness of the community to be guests of tourism activities in KEK Mandalika.These factors include the cognitive, affective, and conative components of the community and policy makers (Rapoport, 1977).The cognitive component is the process of knowing and understanding the surrounding environment, such as knowledge about surrounding activities to the potential that exists.The affective component is the individual's feeling of an object.Then, the conative component includes the forms of behavior, actions, and attitudes taken by the community in response to their understanding and feelings towards their environment.
The research method applied is qualitative with community in Kuta Mandalika Village.In-depth interviews will be applied in this study with a non-probability sampling design to identify key informants.Snowball Sampling was chosen as the data collection method for the first phase.Since the authors use the information saturation method, there is no single key informant as the exact number of sample sizes in the qualitative method.When the researcher reaches a particular level of information, the researcher will end the in-depth interview.
The authors have a total of 25 responders who are willing to be interviewed based on the findings of online interviews.In order to conduct this interview, respondents were given information about the process and the outcomes.Respondents have the option of terminating the interview if they do not desire to answer any of the questions.The interview data obtained were then transcribed, reduced and categorized and then presented in a descriptive form by including interview quotes to strengthen the analysis (Miles & Huberman, 1984).

Cognitive Component (Knowledge and Mindset)
The cognitive component is composed of the knowledge or information a person has about the object of his or her attitude (Allport, 1983).This knowledge and information then become a provision in attitude and action which is a response to something.In terms of cognitive, all respondents know about the Mandalika Special Economic Zone.Most of the respondents explained about the background of the development of the KEK Mandalika and its objectives.
"KEK Mandalika is a government project that will become a new destination to boost tourism revenue in Indonesia" (Respondent 6) "KEK Mandalika is a special tourism destination developed by the government.KEK Mandalika is planned to be used as a place to build a moto GP circuit" (Respondent 7) KEK Mandalika is an area to improve the economy of the people of West Nusa Tenggara, "especially Central Lombok" (Respondent 25) In terms of knowledge about the potential, the community is also well acquainted with the potential of the region.
"KEK Mandalika has a lot of potential, one of which is beautiful beaches, natural and cultural tourism villages not far from Mandalika.In addition, the MotoGP circuit has the potential to bring in more tourists" (Respondent 8) "KEK Mandalika is a large area, white sand which is a characteristic, and accompanied by clean and clear sea water" (Respondent 9) Tourism Industry and Community Readiness: … Journal of Economics Research and Social Sciences, 2023 | 65 "The potential it has is a stretch of beach, hills, and a lot of land as a place for accommodation development" (Respondent 25) The community has begun to realize that their village has the potential for landscapes and culture.The rapid development of tourism has made people realize that tourism can improve people's welfare.This result is supported by (Yergeau, 2020) who mentioned that households engaged in work directly related to tourism tend to have a much higher economic status than households not involved.

Affective Component (Attitude)
Attitude is not but a readiness to act.The friendliness of the community is a reflection of the success of a good tourism system.Evolutionarily, the relationship between tourists and local communities causes the process of commoditization and commercialization of the hospitality of local communities (Pitana and Gayatri, 2005).Based on the interviews conducted, most of the respondents answered that they would be kind to tourists who came.
"The people in Kuta Mandalika Village are very friendly to tourists who come.They smile and don't hesitate to say hello" (Respondent 9) "The people in Kuta Mandalika Village are very friendly to tourists, both local and foreign tourists" (Respondent 10) Currently, people are getting used to receiving an increasingly diverse number of tourist visits.They even began to be enthusiastic to greet in a friendly manner.
"The attitude of the community is very good towards visiting tourists, especially towards foreign tourists" (Respondent 24) "I will make them comfortable.In fact, when they need help or services I will try to help as best I can" (Respondent 6) In line with (Rastegar, 2019), the local population's attitude can have a big impact on the success of tourism development and environmental protection.He went on to say that one of the major reasons influencing tourists' decisions to visit is the attitude of local citizens.

Conative Component (Response)
The conative component is an aspect of certain behavioral tendencies (intentions) according to the attitude of the subject, the possibility that certain behaviors will occur (Hidayah, 2011).Most of the respondents said they could not be involved much in tourism activities in the KEK Mandalika.Moreover, the community background is different from that required by the industry.
"The people of Kuta Mandalika Village have not been fully absorbed by the tourism industry.This is caused by abilities that do not match existing needs" (Respondent 1) "I always try to apply for jobs to the best of my ability.However, they have not been able to compete with workers from outside the region" (Respondent 3) "So far, local people have only become small traders around tourist attractions.This is because there is no capital assistance provided by the government" (Respondent 7) Rastegar (2019) mentioned that the suitability of educational background is an important factor in the absorption of labor, especially in the tourism sector.Moreover, the locals who do not have local people who do not have an educational background will be unable to compete with others.In the study of (Rini & Ma'ruf, 2017) educational background also affects the competitiveness of tourism, especially for the local community.

Conclusion
As the spearhead of tourism activities in the Special Economic Zone for Tourism in West Nusa Tenggara, the local community of Kuta Mandalika Village is required to adapt to the regional tourism industry.Therefore, researchers want to assess how ready the local community of Kuta Mandalika Village is in welcoming tourism activities in their area.The author sees community readiness from several components including the cognitive, affective, and conative components.
Based on the research and analysis that has been done, it can be concluded that the people of Kuta Mandalika Village are quite ready to host tourism activities in the Mandalika Special Economic Zone.However, it is not yet ready as a tourism business actor.Currently, the community is in the process of transforming into a tourism society.The phenomenon of very fast tourism development indirectly forces the community as hosts who are directly affected by tourism to prepare themselves.The role of the government, academia, and the private sector is needed to help develop the surrounding community in terms of the capital and skills needed by the industry.
However, this research needs to look at a bigger aspect in terms of data.The role of the district or provincial government is needed in confirming what was conveyed by respondents to ensure data consistency.