Attractive Ecotourism, Professional Environmental Management, Poverty, and Social Capital Quality

This research discusses the attractive ecotourism as one of the results of professional environmental management and is associated with poverty and social capital quality factors, both of which are considered as influencing factors. The three focuses of this study are the level of public awareness in participating in professional environmental management, attractive ecotourism, and two factors that influence it. The aim of this study is to explore the public awareness in the professional environmental management to produce attractive ecotourism, by conducting comparative studies from two provinces, namely Bengkulu and East Java. The analytical method used in this study is a qualitative analysis method which is supported by quantitative analysis methods, namely: Structural Equation Modeling Analysis. The results of the study indicate that, generally, ecotourism in the Bengkulu province is worse/lower/less successful than in the East Java province in terms of attractiveness. The level of attractiveness of ecotourism is determined by the level of professionalism in ecotourism/environmental management. High and low levels of professionalism in ecotourism management, determined by poverty factor and quality of social capital factor. The quality of social capital (reflected in the attitude of participation/togetherness, cooperation/networking), indirectly affects the ecotourism performance (attractive or not) through motivation/willingness to change