Shaping ethnobotanical tourism on the coastal landscape through Halobanese oral traditions at Banyak Island

Abstract

This paper focused on exposing the unique and typical plants at Pulau Banyak (Banyak Island), which strongly relates to Halobanese oral traditions in shaping ethnob0otanical tourism. The benefit of knowing the typical plants in Banyak Island will inform the natural resources as both natural wealth and cultural heritage owned by the Halobanese. Further, this information also benefits the Halobanese in their confidence and motivation to move forward with ethnobotanical tourism. This is a qualitative study and applied ethnography method. The data were the documentation of typical plants in Pulau Banyak, which have a strong relationship with food security and daily needs for Halobanese, such as mangrove, coconut, sagoo, mangrove and pandan leaves. The results were evaluated by defining the conceptual connection between shaping ethnobotanical tourism and the Halobanese oral heritage, which informed the local flora. The result of the study showed that the typical plants in the Banyak Islands area consist of naturally grown plants and can be grown well. The natural growing plant is mangrove, coconut, sagoo, rumbia and pandan leaves. The plant that can be grown well is taro and yam. Consequently, ethnobotanical tourism is an ideal program to build Halobanese human resources and revitalize their typical plant.