Linking Ecotourism in Management of Botanic Garden: Social Innovation of Purwodadi BG of East Java, Indonesia

Botanic gardens are institutions holding documented collections of living plants for the purposes of scientific research, conservation, display, and education [1]. In Indonesia, the Presidential decree No. 93 the year 2011 mentioned five functions of Botanic Garden, namely conservation, research, education, tourism, and environmental services. This study seeks to find out whether the management of botanical gardens that have been running so far can develop networks by applying social innovation to build awareness of the importance of plant conservation so that it can change the view of many people about botanical gardens as just a garden. This paper addresses ecotourism as a template to accommodate botanic gardens' functions equally. The three pillars of ecotourism, the sustainability of ecology, economy and social care are kept by the management but add on one element, namely social networking [2]. Within those pillars, the management of Purwodadi Botanic Garden improves the educational programme. This study examines both qualitatively and descriptively the efforts of the Purwodadi Botanic Garden. The result is obtained networking in ecotourism management is very important to achieve the function of botanic garden equally as well as reaching of the principle of ecotourism. The experience of the Purwodadi Botanic Garden Management, maintaining networking with other stakeholders through social innovation is one of crucial success.