Ecotourism: An alternative solution for socio-ecological crisis in Pahawang Island, Indonesia

Abstract

Pahawang Island is one of the islands in Lampung Province that has high biodiversity but is very vulnerable to environmental issues. Pahawang Island has experienced severe ecological degradation due to exploitative and destructive economic activities that damaged its mangrove and coral reef ecosystems. Restoring the mangrove and coral reef ecosystems of Pahawang Island can be accomplished through ecotourism. The purpose of this study is to determine the economic value of ecotourism activities in Pahawang. The method used to analyze the economic value of Pahawang ecotourism is the Individual Travel Cost Method (ITCM). According to the findings of the analysis, Pahawang tourist attraction has an economic valuation of IDR 2,206,325,761.07 per year. This value indicates that this island has benefits as a producer of tourism services, where these benefits can be felt sustainably if the existence of the Pahawang tourist attraction area is maintained by preserving the various potential tourism resources within it, both natural, environmental, human as well as socio-cultural resources of the community.