TIMES JATIM, GRESIK – Setigi (Selo, Tirto, Giri) has been officially opened for public. This nature tourism attraction with the concept of nature and civilization education is located in Sekapuk Village, Ujungpangkah sub-district, Gresik, East Java.

Starting from Wednesday (1/1/2020), this tourism destination has collected entrance fees, IDR 15,000 for adults and IDR 10,000 for children. Meanwhile, the locals of Sekapuk Village can enter this area for free.

There are dozens of unique photo spots that can be a good selfie spot, such as the statue of Gupala, Dwirapala statue, the miniature of Persian Mosque, Nogo Giri Pancoran statue, and the sculptures made of limestone.

There is Topeng Nusantara Temple, Magical Gate, Semar statue, Pancawarna Cave, civilization bridge, Honai the traditional house, Floating House, Setigi Monument, and Nogo Puspo sculpture. The visitors can go around the area by riding ATV car or mini motor trail.

Although this tourism destination has just opened, it has been packed with visitors. There are also several foreign tourists enjoying their vacation in Setigi.

One of the visitors from Lamongan, Nurmala Sari, said that she was curious about Setigi. She said this tourism destination is beautiful and not expensive. She knew about this tourism attraction from the social media.

 “There are various photo spots, such as the civilization bridge that resembles the building in overseas. Besides, there is a culinary market that sells various foods,” she said.

Another visitor, Aditya Rahman, said that he knew about Setigi from his colleague. He came from Surabaya to see the limestone sculptures.

Besides, he was also curious about the natural concept combined with artificial concept that could be a good photo background.

Meanwhile, the Head of the village, Abdul Halim, said this tourism destination was funded by the society. There were 387 locals in total who became the investors.

From the investment managed by BUMDes, one share of stock is worth IDR 2,400,000, which equals to saving IDR 8,000 / day or IDR 200,000 / month.

“Today we are distributing 500 shares of stock to the locals in Sekapuk Village who has funded this tourism destination. With this saving scheme, the village government and the locals can be the tourism investors,” said Abdul Halim.

According to Halim, this far, this tourist village has spent up to 1.2 billion Rupiahs. Until now, there has not been any supports from the government for the tourism development, except for promotion.

 “This tourism destination was fully funded by the society as the investors. There will be a stock share based on the investment given annually. We hope that it will be on target,”

Halim targeted IDR 100 million income each month from the tourism sector that will be saved into BUMDes. For the next step, the tourism organizer will be building swimming pools, restaurants, outbound area, gazebo, cafe in the cave, and water bike.

 “Setigi will be facilitated with camping ground and agrotourism, and so many more. There are several interesting attractions that are still in progress,” he said. (*)