Abstract The interaction between ecology and society is crucial for achieving the sustainability of the mangrove ecosystem and the well-being of the multicultural Mandar Village community. The primary objective of this research is to investigate the development of sustainable multicultural community-based mangrove tourism from a social-ecological system perspective in Mandar Village, Indonesia. This study employs a spatial suitability index analysis, a multidimensional sustainability approach utilizing MDS (Rapfish), and a social-ecological system (SES) analysis to evaluate the suitability, sustainability levels, and interaction dynamics between social and ecological components within mangrove tourism management. The multicultural community of Mandar Village, comprising the Mandar, Madurese, Osing, Javanese, Arab, Chinese, and other ethnic groups, develops coastal tourism through environmental quality enhancement efforts underpinned by cross-ethnic collaboration. The main mangrove species in the tourism area include Rhizophora mucronata , Sonneratia alba , and Avicennia marina . The Tourism Suitability Index was 56.41% at station 1 and 58.97% at station 2, categorizing both as conditionally appropriate. The sustainability status is rated as moderately sustainable at 56.55%, influenced mostly by characteristics such as mangrove thickness, labor absorption, tourist perception, and management rules. The mangrove environment, nature tourism, the Fisheries Service, water quality, and fisheries extension workers are the most prominent nodes in the degree centrality of the social-ecological system’s interactions. The primary elements linking the nodes are the mangrove ecosystem and ecotourism. The categorization illustrates the intricacy of the relationship, resulting in the establishment of seven groupings based on analogous traits. Managers need to enhance their capacity to oversee mangroves, address ongoing community concerns regarding the removal of debris from these ecosystems, develop innovative educational tourism attractions centered on mangroves, and foster collaboration between the government and community to bolster mangrove sustainability and economic prospects for community welfare. The development of mangrove tourism should integrate sustainable paradigms anchored in an eco-surplus culture. This integration is crucial, as the overarching success of a destination should no longer be gauged exclusively by conventional metrics such as visitor influx and economic dividends, but rather by its demonstrable capacity to catalyze tangible ecosystem protection, restoration, and regeneration. This paradigm shift repositions the mangrove ecosystem—transcending its conventional role as a mere recreational commodity—into an indispensable ecological core. Consequently, it calls for a governance framework that strictly adheres to environmental carrying capacities, fortifies social responsibility, and cultivates collective pro-environmental behaviors. This multicultural community plays an instrumental role in actualizing Sustainable Multicultural Community-Based Tourism (SMCBT) through cross-ethnic collaboration, the integration of cultural values, and mangrove conservation initiatives, thereby fortifying the socio-ecological sustainability of coastal tourism.
Fattah et al. (Wed,) studied this question.