2023 was a great year for us, full of colorful experience. We got an amazing experience to take a part on national academic seminar. Biology Department - Mathematic and Natural Science of University State of Semarang invited us as one of speaker on the Biology Seminar. The theme raised was "Innovation in Biology Research and Biology Education to Create a Smart and Competitive Generation".

Arif, our founder, was set as a main speaker. He deliver a paper by title: Biodiversity Research to Support Sustainable Tourism in Tanjung Puting National Park. His experience as an awardee of Sustainable Tourism Management Short Course by Australia Award in Indonesia (AAI) was very important in completing knowledge on Sustainable Tourism. How Sustainable Tourism Management applied in Tanjung Puting National Park?. Here the abstract:

Nature Based Tourism has become a popular trend during new normal era. Adventure activities in small groups with dynamic activities is more preferable for special interest tourism enthusiasts. Tanjung Puting National Park, with wildlife tourism as main attraction, has shown a significant recovery rate of 86% by 25,323 visitation number in 2022, approaching 29,283 the highest visitation number in 2018. This shows that wildlife tourism has the agility to recover quickly after the pandemic. The huge disruption to the tourism sector caused by COVID-19 provides an opportunity to redefine and calibrate the direction and narrative of tourism for a more sustainable. Sustainable tourism management practices become a necessity that will provide added value and bargaining power for tourism destinations. The aim of this paper is to identify the role of biodiversity research in supporting sustainable tourism practices especially on wildlife tourism in Tanjung Puting National Park. Tanjung Puting National Park Agency implements sustainable management by prioritizing CHSE (Cleanliness, Healthiness, Safety, Environment), providing online reservation applications, limiting tourist visits, and implementing rules when observing wildlife. Biodiversity research innovations have a great opportunity to provide basic data to support sustainable tourism practices. Biodiversity research with a multidisciplinary approaching is able to answer the challenges of sustainable tourism by focusing on four main pillars, namely: effective sustainability planning, maximizing social and economic benefits for local communities, enhancing cultural heritage, and reducing negative impacts on the environment.

Keywords: nature-based tourism, wildlife tourism, biodiversity, sustainable tourism management.

For the complete paper, please find out here: Prosiding Seminar Nasional Biologi XII (2023).