Strategi Pemberdayaan Masyarakat Kawasan Ekowisata Mangrove melalui Ekonomi Kreatif di Desa Sei Nagalawan Kabupaten Serdang Bedagai

Abstract

This study aims to determine the ecotourism community empowerment process in Sei Nagalawan Village, Serdang Bedagai Regency. The theory used in this research is community empowerment, ecotourism and creativeeconomy. Theapproach in this study uses a qualitative approach. The informants in this study consisted of main informants and additional informants. The main informants are cooperative heads, village heads andvisitors to ecotourism areas, while additional informants consist of academics. The results of the study show, among others: 1. The process of community empowerment in the ecotourism area through the creativeeconomy in Sei Nagawalan Village, Serdang Bedagai Regency is carried out by providing training related to ecotourism through the Muara BaimbaiMulti-Business Cooperative Institution which has five business fields, namely: mangrove ecotourism, savings business loans, processed mangrove products, sea catches by involving most of the community in managing mangrove ecotourism, the community is given various opportunities to be economically independent and not depend on other people; (2) The faktors that inhibit community empowerment in ecotourismareas through the creative economy in Sei Nagawalan Village, Serdang Bedagai Regency, one of which isthe lack of community competence regarding the use of social media and technology so that promotions related to processed products and mangrove ecotourism are still not optimal. Lack of experts who can provide understanding and to the community regarding maximizing media and beautifying the packaging of processed products that will be marketed by mangrove ecotourism; and (3) Empowerment strategy as an effort to improve community empowerment inthe ecotourism area through the creative economy in Sei NagawalanVillage, SerdangBedagai Regency. By utilizing architecture that can be adapted to natural conditions and make visitors comfortable, processed product designs that can be made more informative and up to date, makinginformative videos with beautiful cinematography, maximizing photography so that they can show the beauty of mangrove ecotourism to attract visitors to travel.