Yoboi Village in Jayapura Regency records the history of Papuan tourism

Yoboi Village, Sentani District, Jayapura Regency, has recorded a history of tourism in Papua after being included in the list of 50 National Tourism Villages. Yoboi Village also won the National IV winner of the Creative Content Category at the 2021 Indonesian Tourism Village Award (ADWI), organized by the Ministry of Tourism and Creative Economy (Kemenparekraf) of the Republic of Indonesia.

The assessments in the creative content are the attractiveness of art and culture, nature tourism, digital villages, homestays, souvenirs, and toilets. Yoboi village is the only village that represents Papua in this prestigious event.

Tourism and Creative Economy Minister Sandiaga Uno, Central Java Governor Ganjar Pronowo, and West Java Governor Ridwan Kamil once set foot in the only floating village on the coast of Lake Sentani.
 
This has become a matter of pride for the community, as well as for Billy Tokoro as a young man in the village who has devoted all his energy and thoughts as well as creative ideas, to make Yoboi Village equal with other Tourism Villages that already have big names, and are more used to prepare themselves to be the best in Indonesia.
 
“Yoboys, like newborn babies, don't crawl but run right away. Today we can exist together and on par with great tourist villages in Indonesia, and Yoboi made history for the first time," said Billy Tokoro, one of the youths from Kampung Yoboi who received the 2021 ADWI award trophy for the creative content category. , in Sentani, Thursday (9/12/2021).

Regarding tourism, said Billy, their thoughts and images are always on the blue sea, white sand, and coconut palm trees that line up neatly along the beach. But apparently, this assumption is not comparable to the condition of Kampung Yoboi which is floating and only has sago forest and the water of Lake Sentani.

However, he continued, previously there was a big dream about this village as a place for people to visit or a tourist destination in Jayapura Regency. This is realized with the youth's enthusiasm to create colorful bridges, the Sago Caterpillar Festival, the Ela Festival (hunting pigs), and most recently there is sago forest tracking.

“In one spirit and togetherness, as well as public awareness about economic opportunities through the presence of visitors to Yoboi Village. All these supporting facilities become our creative content, to promote Kampung Yoboi out digitally. It's not easy, because they have to compete with more powerful Tourism Villages, and even manage their tourism content first," said Tokoro.

It was said, prior to the implementation of the XX Papua National Sports Week (PON), a number of central officials and an assessment team had come to Yoboi Village, as well as providing an assessment of 50 National Tourism Villages, and Yoboi Village were selected from 1,800 villages that registered for the 2021 ADWI event. Parekraf directly announced this in Yoboi Village.

“It is special for us that Minister Sandiaga Uno really enjoys papeda and cork fish that are served by the community. Papeda and snakehead fish will become icons of the culinary festival in Yoboi Village in the future," he said.

To get to this level, continued Billy, it takes awareness with the village community, that what is being done now certainly has economic value and impact for the beneficiaries who are villagers themselves.

The government has many programs and activities, but they are not monitored and followed up continuously in every village. For future development, he said, they still need assistance from the government regarding the management of the creative economy, cleanliness, business management and so on.

“Collaboration with the government is very much needed, we the community are very open to receiving input. We also take this opportunity to express our gratitude for all the support from all parties for Yoboi Village," he said.

Separately, the Regent of Jayapura, Mathius Awoitauw, expressed his appreciation to the Ministry of Tourism and Creative Economy, which through its program has appointed and selected Yoboi Village as a National Tourism Village, specifically for the younger generation in Yoboi Village who has set the best example for all villages on the Lake Sentani Coast.

"There is one phenomenon that is currently continuously happening, that there are emerging tourist destinations managed by the community themselves by utilizing the potential of their natural resources. This is also a sign that indigenous peoples are starting to become aware of their very valuable assets and ownership. In the future, we hope that other villages can follow in the footsteps of Kampung Yoboi, which has made the region proud at the national level,” he said.

SOURCE: https://jubi.co.id/kampung-yoboi-di-kabupaten-jayapura-catat-sejarah-pariwisata-papua/amp