ABSTRACT
Indonesia as an archipelago country is located in the ring of fire and has a rich geodiversity with beautiful natural environment. It is not surprising that this archipelago attract tourists to visit. There are three world heritages, 50 national parks, seven national geoparks in Indonesia and two UNESCO recognized global geoparks that are managed with a holistic concept of protection, education and sustainable development. Batur global geopark in Bali is the first Global Geopark in Indonesia, and it has became a tourism icon for the area. The geopark attraction is its geodiversity and it is one of the unique resources for developing geotourism. This study is aimed to explore the geodiversity in Batur Global Geopark and how it is utilized as a resource for geotourism. Qualitative approach was used as the research method by distributing questionairres and conducting interviews with the geoparks’ management and visiting tourist. The results of the study indicated that geodiversity played an important role as an attraction in geotourism. The result also showed that geopark program can lead to conservation, education, and empowerment of the local community. The study suggested utilisation of geoheritage must take into account and the preservation of geodiversity with further multi disciplinary research is needed to support the growing development of Batur Global Geopark.
