Community Perception of Sustainable Tourism Destination Management and Development

Abstract

Understanding and assessing the public view of the existence of a tourist destination is essential to maintain the sustainability of the tourism industry of any type. This paper focuses more on coastal tourism or ecotourism. Ecotourism contributes to preserving natural landscapes and can be used as an alternative livelihood for coastal communities. This study aims to identify and analyze the public perception of the community at Kampa Beach as a tourist destination on the tourism potential development plan in the area. A community-based tourism approach in managing and developing tourism is offered to the community in Wawonii Island, Konawe Islands Regency, Southeast Sulawesi. The research methodology used is a mixed method of ethnographic fieldwork consisting of observation and semi-structured interviews with a small group of selected informants representing the community and content analysis of selected relevant documents from reputable national and international journals obtained from the Internet. The result shows that positive public perception of the potential of touristic destinations is directly proportional to the enthusiasm of various stakeholders involved despite insufficient community-based tourism. Weaknesses and shortcomings still exist in several areas. However, Kampa Beach has the potential to become a sustainable tourist destination.