Ridwan Sutriadi
The Sula Islands is a district located on the southernmost side of North Maluku Province which consists of two large islands, namely Sulabes Island and Mangoli Island. The area is surrounded by the sea, making tourism a promising potential if managed well. This island is rich in natural beauty and abundant marine natural resources. This potential is managed through a collaborative activity called the Maksaira Festival. The marine tourism agenda for the Maksaira Festival which is held every year is part of the culture of the Sula people which originates from the past lives of their ancestors which has become a tradition in initiating the concept of development in the Sula Islands. Philosophically, Maksaira means a meeting of traditional leaders in deliberation to reach a consensus in initiating unity in development, especially for coastal areas. The concepts of Smart Society (learning community and ecosystem) and Smart Economy (adaptive economic activity ecosystem) in Smart City are used as a reference framework in maximizing potential and dealing with economic and social issues in the Sula Islands Regency digitally and innovatively. Collaboration between multi-sectors and multi-stakeholders is needed, especially in relation to community empowerment in developing coastal areas as tourist locations based on a smart economy, in this case the creative economy. This is because the role of digitalization is able to encourage tourism branding and creative industries to be more easily accessible in the global realm. This service activity is carried out through many stages, such as Focus Group Discussions which have been carried out three times, twice in the first year to get an overview of issues regarding the development of these two sectors and once in the second year to explore concrete steps that the service team can take and present to local and village communities and governments. After the master plan was prepared and perfected in the second year, in the second year activities were also held such as training to market local MSME products in shops and Google Business so that people were able to manage their accounts independently, then also product photos that produced photos for the community's local products. . Apart from that, the installation of the integrated tourism digital board at Tanjung Waka Beach has been completed with a barcode that is synchronized with the digital tourism system (dynamic). This system is connected to the pikatpesonasula link | Instagram | Linktree which can be accessed by visitors who find this information board. In this link there is access to the pikatpesonasula.com website, the Pikat Pesona Sula Instagram account, and the Pikat Pesona Sula YouTube channel which has published a tourism video. Apart from that, at the end of 2024 the tourism and creative industry master plan document which has been prepared for two years will be submitted to Bappeda and the Tourism Office to be used as material for consideration for the development of the tourism and creative industry sector in the Sula Islands Regency.
Completion of the Tourism and Creative Industries Masterplan Document
In general, this community service provides benefits for the promotion of tourism potential and the sales capacity of digital-based creative industries. Digital branding training regarding the use of online media (Google Business and Shopee) accelerates the development of creative economy businesses so that they can increase market reach. Brands are useful as regional icons that become an attraction and reflect identity. This can improve the economy and open up opportunities for these two sectors. Media platforms in the form of websites and social media are useful as promotional media that can increase popularity, knowledge, interaction and share experiences.