ABSTRACT
Geopark Ciletuh-Palabuhanratu, named as UNESCO Global Geopark (UGG) in 2018 and a new geotourism destination, had an increasing number of tourist visits which was predicted to be more than 1 million in 2020. When Coronavirus (Covid-19) spread throughout the world, tourism industries suffered the most significant negative impacts, and some tourist destinations were closed. In this study, estimation of the short-term economic effect due to Covid-19 in UGG Ciletuh-Palabuhanratu tourism was highlighted. The results showed that the short-term economic effect during the pandemic was IDR1.5–2.02 billion (US$102–137 million) if the Covid-19 outbreak could be ended in December 2020. Considering the optimistic scenario where the government predicted that Covid-19 would end in June 2020, the estimation of economic effect was IDR 605–801 million (US$41–55 million). Meanwhile, based on the moderate scenario where Covid-19 was predicted to end in September 2020, the estimation of economic effect would be IDR1.05–1.42 billion (US$71–96 million). This would help the government prepare applicable policies to plan development strategies for UGG Ciletuh-Palabuhanratu after the Covid-19 outbreak.
