Digital Marketing of Ecotourism Medokan Ayu Mangrove Botanical Gardens in Rungkut District, Surabaya, East Java

Abstract

Medokan Ayu Mangrove Botanical Garden is one of the ecotourism areas located on the east coast of the city of Surabaya, East Java. The ecoutourism is managed by the Tourism Awareness Group (Pokdarwis) Medokan Ayu. The management carried out is still conventional and before the Covid-19 pandemic, the level of tourist visits on the weekends was quite high, with around 100 more visitors. Pokdarwis Medokan Ayu faced problems when the Covid-19 pandemic hit. The number of visitors to Medokan Ayu Mangrove Botanical Garden has decreased by almost 90% especially on weekends. The solution to this problem is the promotion of the Medokan Ayu Mangrove Botanical Gardens online through the Pokdarwis.id website. Community service acitivities are carried out using training methods. The training activities include four stages, namely coordination with partners, training, mentoring and evaluation. The training activities took place twice and were carried out offline. The first training is related to website operation., and the second training is calendar content creation and copywriting. Based on the results of the activity evaluation, several Pokdarwis administrators were able to operate the Pokdarwis website. Some administrators can manage the Pokdarwis website and realize the importance of online promotion supported by interesting and selling content. The benefits of the training increased the creativity of Pokdarwis management in the management of the Medokan Ayu Mangrove Botanical Gardens. Based on the results of the evaluation through filling out questionnaires by some training participants, the implementation of community service activities received a positive response, and community service team continued to provide assistance related to website management such as suggestions submitted by partners.