1,2- 1University of the Philippines Visayas, Regional Research Center, Training, Extension, and Communication Division, Philippines (jaeslopor@up.edu.ph)
- 2University of the Philippines Visayas, College of Fisheries and Ocean Sciences - Institute of Fisheries Policy and Development Studies
Mainstreaming ecotourism management in coastal communities requires unearthing experiences and grassroots narratives to facilitate the identification of possible management options in maximizing ecotourism opportunities in the community. This study describes the ecotourism resources, destination, and activities, including the people involved in the ecotourism management and governance in Barangay Lawi. It also invests in looking at the challenges and issues in identifying the possible management options in the ecotourism development of the community. The study utilizes SWOT Analysis to identify the existing challenges and issues in the community, and it further utilized the Analytic Hierarchy Process (Saaty, 1980) in giving weights to the identified criteria and management strategies in optimizing the ecotourism and coastal conservation opportunities in the community using a pairwise comparison method. It utilizes the key informant interviews, focus group discussion workshops, and secondary data review to document existing tourism initiatives in the community, and validated through triangulation method. The study identifies the importance of the existing ecotourism and conservation initiatives in the community as vital component in identifying the possible management strategies in facilitating ecotourism and conservation management strategies in the community’s [ecotourism] industry. Moreover, the research participants identified the following strategies – a) tourism management – standardization of ecotourism rates and ecotourism accreditation, and b) conservation management – community participation, in addressing the research objectives. Thus, the identified emerging issues, and suggestions from KII and FGD anecdotes, together with other supporting data contribute substantially in facilitating sustainable coastal ecotourism and conservation in the community.
Keywords: sustainable ecotourism, inter-agency cooperation, community participation, SWOT, AHP
How to cite: Eslopor, J. M. and Espectato, L.: Identifying Possible Community-based Coastal Ecotourism and Conservation Management Strategies using Analytic Hierarchy Process (Saaty, 1980) in Barangay Lawi, Guimaras, Philippines, One Ocean Science Congress 2025, Nice, France, 3–6 Jun 2025, OOS2025-79, https://doi.org/10.5194/oos2025-79, 2025.
