Cirebon Culinary Travel Pattern
Bagus Githa Adhitya, R. Anggi P. Supriadi, Iqlima Ramadhani, Vanda Nirma Audita,
Ronal Andrianto
Tours and Travel Department, Sekolah Tinggi Pariwisata Bandung, Bandung, Indonesia
Keyword: The Culinary, Travel Pattern, Cirebon
Abstract: Cirebon area is one of the regions in West Java Province that has a variety of tourism potentials. Supported
by a strategic location and good access, Cirebon become a new tourism development area in West Java
Province. As one of the regions that has potential in the tourism sector, especially culinary tourism, Cirebon
area should have a travel pattern of culinary tourism. The purpose of this research is to identify the actual
condition of culinary and tourist attractions, and also to measure the time required for traveling in Cirebon
area. We are using a qualitative method and observation, interview, and literature review as data collection
techniques. The results of this research are Cirebon area has a lot of variety of places that are very
interesting for tourists to visit. As for the conditions of travel time needed by tourists during the visit, it is
considered quite good, where the distance between the culinary attraction locations are close to each other
and this thing is one of the most important key factors. In conclusion, we create a Cirebon culinary travel
pattern, which can be used as a reference for making tour packages and is expected to be useful for the
regional government and all related tourism stakeholders in Cirebon area and West Java Province.
1 INTRODUCTION
Tourism has been designated as one of the leading
national development sectors by the President of
Indonesia, Mr. Joko Widodo. In terms of achieving
this, the government has planned several programs
that can support the achievement of the target
number of foreign tourist arrivals of 20 million by
2019. Based on data from the Ministry of Tourism,
40 percent of tourists spend money on culinary
shopping when visiting a tourist attraction (Kompas
.com, 2016). This makes culinary as a tourism sector
that supports the increase in income of the tourism
industry, especially in the food sector.
In this global era, it cannot be denied that the
competition of cities is increasingly fierce. The cities
are competing with each other for attention,
investment, visitors, buyers, and events. Existing
competitors even come from other parts of the
world. To be able to deal with globalization, it is
important for a city to have a brand as the direction
of development of the city in a global context, not
just a local context.
West Java is one of the provinces in Indonesia
that has a growing tourism sector because it has a
high-value tourist attraction. In West Java, there are
several famous and interesting tourist attractions,
such as in the capital city of West Java Province
namely Bandung City with Gedung Sate as its icon,
both of north and south Bandung Regency with
natural tourist attractions in the highlands where
Mount Tangkuban Parahu in the north and the White
Crater in the south as the main tourist attractions that
must be visited by tourists.
Cirebon City and Cirebon Regency (hereinafter
referred to as the Cirebon region) with their status as
the National Activity Center in West Java Province
which has their own characteristics and uniqueness.
The geographical location of the Cirebon region
makes it easy for tourists to visit worthy visiting
destinations. It can be reached by land as far as 130
km from the City of Bandung and 258 km from the
City of Jakarta, besides, there is the Cipali Toll Road
(Cikopo-Palimanan), a toll road that connects the
regions around West Java and DKI Jakarta which
aims to facilitate accessibility of tourists who will
visit the Cirebon region.
According to the Ministry of Tourism
represented by the Secretary-General of the Ministry
of Tourism Ukus Kuswara; 2015 "Cirebon is an area
72
Adhitya, B., P. Supriadi, R., Ramadhani, I., Audita, V. and Andrianto, R.
Cirebon Culinary Travel Pattern.
DOI: 10.5220/0009516800720078
In Proceedings of the 1st NHI Tourism Forum (NTF 2019) - Enhancing Innovation in Gastronomic for Millennials, pages 72-78
ISBN: 978-989-758-495-4
Copyright
c
 2021 by SCITEPRESS – Science and Technology Publications, Lda. All rights reserved

of the nine cities planned to be included in the
agenda of developing leading tourism destinations."
Based on data obtained from the Central
Statistics Agency of the City & Regency of Cirebon,
it was found that the number of tourist visits was
2,523,613 people in 2018. Where 1,080,544 were
those who visited the city of Cirebon and 1,443,069
visited the Cirebon District. The tourists were
dominated by locals.
People mainly visit Cirebon to visit tourist
attractions, such as Kasepuhan Palace, Kanoman
Palace, Kacirebonan Palace, Sunan Gunung Jati
Tomb, Sunyaragi Cave, Batik Trursmi-a one-stop
batik center which is famous for its Mega Mendung
motifs. Besides these, culinary tourism can be an
alternative in developing the Cirebon Tourism
Industry. Culinary tourism lately is increasingly
popular with tourists, this is due not only to the
influence of promotions conducted through TV
alone but also by food vloggers. A variety of food
menus, especially regional specialties, has become
popular. Even menus that were previously rare or
never known suddenly became the one that many
people seek. This is becoming an opportunity to
develop culinary tourism in Indonesia because it has
a diversity of tribes and cultures which of course has
an impact on the variety of culinary in one area.
The potential of Cirebon culinary tourism is no
less important than the potential of existing arts and
cultural tourism. This culinary potential becomes the
main attraction for tourists. Typical cuisine is known
as traditional food (Eva et al., 2015). Traditional
food is food that is consumed by people in certain
regions and ethnicities and is made from local
ingredients according to the tastes of the community
for generations including complete food, snacks, and
drinks (Astawan, 2013).
Culinary tourism is an alternative in supporting
the potential of natural, cultural and man-made
tourism. Culinary tourism can be a complement to a
tourist product in a destination.
Cirebon community culture is a collaboration
between Sundanese and Javanese culture. Where
within the region, the culture is divided into harbor
culture and agriculture. More than just meeting the
two cultures, the culture of Cirebon has other
distinctions due to the integration of Hindu, Chinese,
and Islamic Cultural elements. The existing food
culture is affected by these conditions (Gusni, 2015).
Culinary tourism itself is a tourism that is
influenced by the desire to visit a place where food
is made, food festivals, restaurants, or a place to try
food (Hall et al., 2003).
To support the development of culinary tourism
in Cirebon, we need to plan travel patterns.
According to the Guidelines for the implementation
of the preparation of the Travel Pattern of the
Ministry of Tourism
(2010) The pattern of travel itself has several
objectives, namely:
1. Increase tourist visits both inbound and
outbound.
2. Increase the length-of-stay of tourists.
3. Distribute tourist visits to existing attractions.
4. Creating competitiveness of tourism products
through diversification of travel patterns contained
in tour packages.
5. Facilitate and assist tourism actors in
compiling and selling tour packages by following
market needs.
The purpose of this study is to make a
recommendation for existing travel patterns in
Cirebon, by first identifying accessibility, culinary
attractions, amenities and travel time. from the
emergence of this issue, it is expected that culinary
travel pattern can be used and utilized by the
government, tourism industry players, the
community of the City & Regency of Cirebon, and
the employees in companies who want to entertain
their guests when they come to visit Cirebon.
The travel pattern that will be made is for
domestic tourists F.I.T (Free Individual Traveler)
with age segmentation included in the millennial
category, which is born between 1980 and 2000.
Millennials are relatively braver when they travel
compared to previous generations. They look for
unique, new, authentic, and personal experiences.
Millennials don't give in to economic problems, they
are happy to do everything themselves. One of the
unique things of the millennial generation is that
they prefer to allocate income for a trip rather than
having to buy a house, branded goods (fashion), and
gadgets. The size of the income does not break the
desire of millennials to travel (Parhusip & Arida,
2018). Millennial tourists will continue to grow and
become a major market for Indonesian tourism in
the future, so whoever wins it will be the winner in
the future (Yahya, 2019). Through making this
culinary tour pattern, it is also hoped that it can
simultaneously introduce the cultural diversity of
Indonesia to millennial tourists.
Millennials generate traveling as a top priority.
Based on a survey conducted by booking.com, it is
found that 65% of millennials make traveling as
their main priority for spending money in the next 5
years.
Cirebon Culinary Travel Pattern
73

Based on preliminary data obtained by the
research team, the results show that so far, the
average length of stay in Cirebon is 1.49 days for
domestic tourists. This is one of the reasons why the
research team conducted this research, how the
preparation of this travel pattern can be used to
increase the length of stay of tourists.
2 LITERATURE REVIEW
2.1 Culinary Tourism
Culinary tourism itself is a tour that is influenced
by the desire to visit a place where food is made,
food festivals, restaurants, or a place to try food
(Hall et al., 2003).
2.2 Travel Pattern
According to Rahim (2012), Travel Pattern is a
pattern compiled through the identification and
mapping of diversity of tourist attractions,
supporting facilities and infrastructure, accessibility,
duration of visit times, and the distance to tourist
attractions. From this diversity, patterns are formed
that can be studied or examined by geographical
study. The use of spatial pattern type classification
on travel patterns can represent and provide an
explanation that is quite easy to apply in this study.
These are the following forms of travel patterns
according to (Lew and McKercher, 2006):
Table 1: Types of Travel Patterns
No Name Travel Pattern Descriptio
ns
1 Single Point Travel to
another
destinatio
n and
place of
origin
using the
same route
2 Base Site A travel
pattern
that
resembles
a beam
with a
central
p
oint.
3 Stop Over Travel that
goes to
one main
destinatio
n point
where
visiting
other
destinatio
n points
(secondar
y) in its
movement
.
4 Chaining
Loop
Travel
with a
rotating
type such
as a ring
that
connects
two or
more
destinatio
n points
and no
repeat
routes
occur.
5 Destination
Region Loop
Tourist
trips that
begin with
a route
around
other
destinatio
ns.
6 Complex
neighbourho
od
a
combinati
on of two
or more
travel
patterns
mentioned
above.
Source: Lew and McKercher (2006)
3 METHODOLOGY
3.1 Research Design
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The research method used in this study is
exploratory - qualitative descriptive, by exploring
the culinary tourism potential of the Cirebon area.
The data collection process is carried out through the
observation process and also the interview process
conducted by the researcher to the parties concerned.
3.2 Research Participants
The participants in this study were determined using
non-probability sampling techniques with the type of
purposive sampling. The chosen informants as
participants in making this culinary tourism pattern
are the Education, Youth, Sport, and Tourism office
of the City of Cirebon.
3.3 Data Analysis Techniques.
The technical analysis of culinary travel patterns
was carried out through four stages namely the
process of data collection, data reduction, data
presentation, and decision making. The four stages
were implemented to analyze the data obtained from
the results of field research and obtain conclusions
about the research conducted. The data analysis
technique used is the Miles & Huberman model in
Fuad&Nugroho (2014), with the following
descriptions:
a. Data Reduction is the process of sorting and
selecting, simplifying data related to research
interests, abstraction, and transformation of
rough data from the field.
b. Data Display is a brief description, charts,
flowcharts and the like. This stage can help
researchers to understand what is happening,
plan further analysis based on what was
previously understood.
c. Conclusion / Verifying is the final step in data
analysis. Data validity test is carried out
through a triangulation approach to test
whether the research data collected have
differences or not so that the data can be
considered valid or invalid.
In this study two triangulation techniques were
conducted according to Fuad & Nugroho (2014) as
follows:
a. Source Triangulation
Done by checking the data that has been
obtained from various sources. Data from
various sources are then sorted and selected
and presented in the form of a matrix table.
Data from different sources are described,
categorized to find out which views are the
same, which are different and which are the
most specific.
b. Technical Triangulation
Done by checking data from various data
collection techniques. For example, by using
in-depth interview techniques and
documentation, the two techniques will then be
compared to see the consequences.
4 EMPIRICAL RESULTS AND
DISCUSSIONS
4.1 Accesibility
The tourists can go to Cirebon in various ways,
including:
a. Via air, through the Kertajati Airport in
Majalengka which is only about 60 km to
Cirebon, or 60 minutes travel time by car.
b. Via land, for tourists who use private/rental
cars, can use the Cikopo - Palimanan / Kanci
Palimanan toll road for tourists who come from
Bandung, which takes about 3 hours. An
alternative land road that can be taken is
through Jalan Bandung - Palimanan / Jl.
Cirebon - Bandung, with a travel time of
around 4 hours 30 minutes. Tourists from
Jakarta can use the Jakarta - Cikampek and
Cikopo Palimanan toll roads with a distance of
about 3 hours. Another option that can be done
is by using the train transportation mode.
Tourists from Bandung can use Ciremai Train.
The train services depart twice a day and
operate every day. The journey takes
approximately 4 hours. Tourists from Jakarta
can use Argo Cheribon, Argo Muria, Argo
Dwipangga, Argo Bromo Anggrek,
Bangunkarta, Argo Sindoro, Bima, Gajayana,
Sembrani, Argo Lawu, and Taksaka with an
average travel time of 3 hours. In addition,
tourists can also use public buses that will
arrive at the Harjamukti Terminal which serves
Jakarta, West Java, Central Java, and East Java
routes as well as areas around Cirebon.
4.2 Culinary Attraction
4.2.1 Bogana Rize
Originally meant potluck rice, it was a typical
thanksgiving rice in Cirebon. Derived from
Sundanese language, which means sabogana or
Cirebon Culinary Travel Pattern
75

saayana, which means perfunctory. Often
encountered during the implementation of traditional
ceremonies. Bogana rice consists of yellow rice with
some side dishes on its side, such as tofu, tempeh,
chicken eggs, and yellow seasoned chicken. Usually,
the yellow rice is shaped like a cone. Cone-shaped
rice symbolizes unity with God, while yellow
symbolizes majesty. Tourists can try to taste the
Bogana rice at Pawon Bogana, a restaurant inside
the Kacirebonan Palace. The Sultan of Kecirebonan,
Abdul Ghani did an innovation by introducing this
traditional dish in a culinary tourism concept that
was not only for-profit purposes but to support and
attract tourists to come to Kecirebonan Palace. He
also has a mission to preserve the cultural
uniqueness of the Kacirebonan Palace.
4.2.2 Empal Gentong
Empal in Cirebon’s language means meat, while
Gentong is the name of an empal cooking container
made of clay or earthenware. Empal Gentong
resembles curry. Usually, beef is used as a basic
ingredient and eaten using rice or Indonesian rice
cake. Some famous restaurants that specialized in
Empal Gentong are Empal Gentong Mang Darma,
Empal Gentong Krucuk, and Empal Gentong H.
Apud.
4.2.3 Sega Jamblang or Jamblang Rice
The characteristic of this food is the usage of teak as
a pack of rice leaves. The dish is served via a buffet.
Sega Jamblang was originally intended for forced
laborers who built the Anyer - Panarukan road. Teak
leaves are chosen because when the rice is wrapped
in these leaves, the rice will taste fluffier and more
durable. Usually, Jamblang rice will be eaten with
some side dishes such as fried chicken, fish stew,
tempeh, tofu, potato satay, sambal, etc. Some
famous restaurants that provide this menu are Nasi
Jamblang Dul, Nasi Jamblang Bu Nur, Nasi
Jamblang Pelabuhan, etc.
4.2.4 Lengko Rice
Derived from the word "rare", in the Cerbon
dialect means none or rarely. The side dishes of
Lengko rice is very simple, such as tofu, tempeh,
bean sprouts, chives, peanut sauce, cucumber, and
soy sauce. Because the rice and side dishes are
stirred together, some people think the naming of
Lengko rice comes from the word "lekoh" (thick).
Even in its development, there are also those who
synchronize it with "complete and economical"
because of its simplicity. Some famous restaurants
that provide this menu of Lengko rice are H. Barno,
Bahagia, H.M. Sadi, Ibu Suniah, Bu Ros, Mbok
Temu, Warung Lengko 29 dan Ibu Hj. Raminah. In
2018, the Cirebon city government held an event by
eating Lengko rice together to break a new record in
Original Record Indonesia (ORI), which was
attended by approximately 3000 residents of
Cirebon City.
4.2.5 Docang
Is a typical food that consists of uraban (mixture) of
various food ingredients, namely cassava leaves,
crackers, rice cake, sambal, and spices. It served in
thick vegetable sauce called dage. This food has a
distinctive savory flavor and usually served warm
for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. Docang comes from
the word "godongan beans" which means most of
the sauce consists of many kinds of beans, such as
dage (oncom in Sundanerse), bean sprouts, coconut,
and leaves (papaya's or cassava's) mixed with grated
coconut. This dish was invented in 15 agricultural
areas that are very rich in pea and leaves. Some of
these areas are Kaliwadas Village, Tegalsari, Megu,
Weru District, and Cirebon Regency. At every
Prophet Muhammad's birthday celebration in the
square of Kanoman or Kasepuhan, Docang is served
when people are sitting on traditional mats. Today,
authentic Docang is rarely found even in Cirebon.
There is only one place that serves it, and it is
located on Gg Rattan Karanggetas.
4.2.6 Tahu Gejrot or Gejrot tofu
Tahu Gejrot or Gejrot tofu is a typical food made
from tofu and other seasonings. Tahu Gejrot consists
of tahu pong, a type of hollow tahu goreng (fried
tofu) cut into small pieces. It is served with a thin
and watery dressing that is made by blending palm
sugar, vinegar, and sweet soy sauce. It is usually
served in a small earthenware bowl or clay plate,
with ground garlic, pounded shallot and hot bird's
eye chili cut into pieces to add spiciness. Gejrot tofu
is also a typical snack in the area of Cirebon which
is popular among children and adults, because of its
distinctive taste sensation. The way to eat Tahu
Gejrot is also unique. A small thin bamboo stick is
used instead of a regular fork. Today, this food has
spread to many areas in Indonesia such as Jakarta,
Malang, Depok, Surabaya, and several other major
cities.
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4.2.7 Mie Koclok
Mie koclok (lit: "shaken noodle"), is an
Indonesian chicken noodle soup, a specialty of
Cirebon city, West Java. Mie Koclok stands for "Mie
Khasnya Orang Cirebon yang Lebih Okay" which
means "Cirebon People's Special Noodles that are
Better than any others" created by Mr. Edy, an
owner of fried noodles shop in 1945. The noodles
come with a white-colored extra-thick porridge-like
soup, made of chicken broth and coconut milk soup,
which is coagulated with corn starch or tapioca.
Other ingredients include shredded chicken breast,
cabbage, bean sprouts, hard-boiled egg, kaffir lime
juice, and sprinkled with sliced fresh celery, spring
onion, and fried shallot. Some famous restaurants
that provide this menu are Mas Edi, Pak Rasita,
Panjunan, Mang Sam, and Abah Gaul.
4.3 Amenities
4.3.1 Hotel
Based on available data, Cirebon has 93 hotel
options that can be selected for tourists to stay in
Cirebon. Tourists can choose based on their
preferences to stay in star-rated or non-star-rated
hotels, according to their budget.
4.3.2 Souvenir Shop
For tourists who want to visit Cirebon, it would not
be complete if they do not shop for some souvenirs.
Several souvenir shops can be used as references,
such as the Trusmi Batik Area, Daud Shop, Pangestu
Shop, Kanoman Market, and Morning Market. The
tourists can shop anything from Megamendung
motifs batik to crackers, shrimp paste, jeniper, spices
to make empal gentong, sweet snacks, salted
shredded shrimp, shrimp jerky, petis, rambak
crackers, campolay syrup, and melarat crackers.
4.3.3 Tour Guide
Tourists who need the services of tour guides can
also contact DPC HPI Cirebon. There are 18
certified-tour-guides who can escort tourists to have
a better understanding of the diversity of culture and
history in Cirebon.
4.3.4 Tourist Attraction
Based on the collected data, Cirebon has several
tourist attractions that are included in the Cultural
and Heritage Tourism, namely: Kasepuhan Palace,
Kanoman Palace, Kacirebonan Palace, Sunyaragi
Cave, Trusmi Batik Region, Sunan Gunung Djati
Tombs, Arab Village, Panjunan Red Mosque, BAT
Factory, Dewi Welas Asih Temple, Zero Kilometer
Monument, BI Building, etc.
4.3.5 Transportation
Cirebon already has several options that can be used
by tourists, from public transportation, car rental,
taxis, beca, to online transportation. A variety of
transportation choices in Cirebon are expected to be
able to meet the preferences of tourists who are
doing tourism activities in Cirebon.
4.3.6 Travel Time
The diversity of culinary attractions in Cirebon is
influenced by the length of the borderlines. This
caused by some of the culinary attractions that are
not entirely located in the city of Cirebon, but the
Cirebon Regency. However, it does not become a
significant problem because the distance from one
tourist attraction to another is not that far-off. So, it
would not take much time.
5 CONCLUSION
5.1 Conclusion
The conclusions based on the results of data analysis
are as follows:
a. In terms of Cirebon's accessibility, the study
confirms that tourists can choose the
transportation mode that suits their preferences,
due to the variety of transportation options.
b. The study results proved that tourists are
spoiled for choice by a multitude of options in
Culinary. Cirebon's diverse culinary is
expected to trigger an increase in tourists'
length of stay.
c. Based on the finding data, it can be concluded
that in terms of amenities, Cirebon already has
complete tourist facilities needed by tourists to
do tourism activities in Cirebon.
d. The study results provide information that the
travel time needed to visit between one tourist
attraction to another doesn't take much time
since the Cirebon region is not too large. It is
easier for tourists to visit many tourist
attractions in one visit.
5.2 Suggestions
Cirebon Culinary Travel Pattern
77

Based on the findings and analysis consisting of
aspects of Accessibility, Culinary Attraction,
Amenities, and Travel Time, the authors try to make
a culinary travel pattern in Cirebon that can be used
as a recommendation for the local government and
the community to increase the number of tourists
and their length of stay. The Culinary Travel
Patterns in Cirebon that the authors propose are as
follows:
Figure 1: Single Point Model
This travel pattern model is designed to meet the
needs of tourists who have limited time. The
diversity of culinary attractions in Cirebon are
expected for tourists to have a variety of places to
visit. The time limitation is expected to be one of the
triggers for tourists to re-visit Cirebon and try other
culinary attractions.
Figure 2: Model Chaining Loop
This travel pattern model is designed for tourists
who have plenty of time to explore many culinary
choices available in Cirebon. This pattern can be
combined into existing tour packages to bring added
value. But this travel pattern can be turned into an
individual tour package and is expected to be sold by
tourism industry players in Cirebon.
Figure 3: Base Site Model
This travel pattern model is designed for tourists
who make a transit in Cirebon to do tourism
activities. With this base site pattern, tourists spread
out in their tourism activities in just one small area,
and the area chosen is around the Kanoman Palace.
This is because the area around Keraton Kanoman
has a wide selection of Cirebon culinary attractions,
from snacks to souvenirs.
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