Perceptions of Tourists and Key Individuals on Ecotourism Management in Lampung Mangrove Center

Abstract

Lampung has some spots of mangrove forests which one of them namely Lampung Mangrove Center (LMC). LMC has a potential resources for ecotourism development on the condition that the management is running well. This research aims to analyze the perceptions of key individuals and tourists about ecotourism management. Research location was in Lampung Mangrove Center, Margasari Village, East Lampung District. Snowball sampling interview and literature study was conducted in April 2017. This study resulted different perception of key individuals and tourists about ecotourism in Margasari Village. Key individuals assessed the management has been running well (100%), but the tourists rated the management is still bad (80%). The entire tourists (100%) requested the need for improvement for ecotourism infrastructure. The existing issues of ecotourism development in Margasari Village, according to tourists and key individuals were minimal access to public transport, less synergize between district government with the community for ecotourism management, and bad image of East Lampung district as conflict areas of sand mining. Keywords: Margasari village, ecotourism, mangrove forest, perception.