BRAVOLUN “OPTIMIZING THE POTENTIAL OF SUSTAINABLE ECOTOURISM BY EMPOWERING LOCAL COMMUNITY IN PANTAI SEDERHANA VILLAGE”

Abstract

The geographical condition not only provides an essential habitat for flora and fauna, additionally offers the potential to enhance natural tourism, particularly ecotourism. The growth of ecotourism in Pantai Sederhana Village will definitely enrich the local community through increasing the number of tourists that will initially visit, it will also contribute to preserving the surrounding natural environment. Unfortunately, multiple challenges arise during the growth of tourism in Pantai Sederhana. The fundamental challenge faced by ‘Ekowisata Saung Alas’ which is located in the village of Pantai Sederhana, not just environmental issues. It also a lack of visitor interest that raising significant issues concerning the roots of the problem. Empowering communities in ecotourism development is equipping with the understanding and skills required to participate effectively. Through the optimalization of human resources in knowledges and skills to arise the economic transition. This project aims to help optimize the potential of ecotourism for the local communities through creative learning for local communities and the children in Pantai Sederhana village and how to use social media effectively for ecotourism marketing, with the hope of increasing the quality of human resources in empowering ecotourism in Saung Alas. The importance of gaining abilities and knowledge in honing creative thinking in children during their golden age era is criticalto the growth of ecotourism. Furthermore, we conduct socialization towards ‘Ekowisata Saung Alas’ members and village inhabitant on optimizing social media asa promoting tool to engage more visitors. The involvement of children is seen as a crucial element in becoming agents of change. We believe that social media platformssuch asInstagram play an essential role in tourism promotion. As a result, this proposalwas created with the objective of increasing the ecotourism potential in Pantai Sederhana village through the implementation within certain methods, including creative learning and also optimizing social media as a promotion tool. Indeed, this initiative fulfilled its expected objectives. This project is thriving in achieving the expected outputs. However, advanced mentoring is needed for further development to maximize the perfect results.