Sustainable marine ecotourism governance based on tourism preferences

Abstract

Abstract The utilization of coastal areas and small islands in Indonesia is for marine ecotourism. Marine tourism areas need to be managed and regulate marine tourism activities that form interconnectivity between sectors including the conservation of fisheries and marine resources. Based on landscape conditions (bio-ecoregion) and tourist preferences, choosing marine tourism destinations. This research aims to analyze sustainable marine ecotourism governance based on tourism preferences. the research was conducted from August 2022 - to February 2023 using primary and secondary data. The technique for taking respondents used a purposive sampling of 100 respondents. The analytical tool used to analyze the factors influencing tourists to visit marine tourism destinations uses the Partial Least Square – Structural Equation Modelling (PLS-SEM) method. Based on the results of research on factors that influence tourists’ decision-making in choosing marine tourism destinations, namely: income (X1), level of education (X2), distance traveled to tourist destinations (X3), accessibility (X4), accommodation (X5), infrastructure (X6), information from social media (X7), security and safety (X8). Governance is carried out by considering social-ecological system aspects based on coastal area utilization zones, but not all of them are implemented properly, so collaboration between stakeholders is needed to support the sustainability of marine tourism.