Local Wisdom-Based Tourism: Towards Sustainable Tourism in Kendari, Indonesia, the Capital of Southeast Sulawesi

Tourism is a strategic sector to be improved, especially after the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic.It is currently a national priority in line with increasing foreign exchange, investment, and poverty alleviation.Meanwhile, Kendari City has many tourism objects that are significant and strategic for development.One is the Bungkutoko Island mangrove track, which is a relatively new tourist destination.The main attraction in this area is the mangroves, which require preservation and sustainability to enhance the economy of the local community.Efforts to maintain mangrove areas as tourist destinations should include the internalization of local wisdom in these communities.Therefore, this study discusses the implementation of local wisdom to rebuild tourism through internalizing local wisdom in the mangrove track area.The methods involved literature reviews, field surveys, and interviews with respondents to ascertain the factors that enabled the internalization of local wisdom values.Recommendations were also obtained for tourism sector development in the future.Meanwhile, the results showed that some strategies to internalize local wisdom include socialization involving the significance of mangrove conservation, training in mangrove use as an economically valuable food, and training of tourist guides from residents.Other strategies include the development of various tourist destination infrastructures such as a calendar of events, creative economic products, and souvenirs, and strengthening the institutional management of tourist destinations that involve community components, youth groups, and other elements of society.