Abstract: Coastal areas are critical from an environmental and economic point of view because various human activities, especially coastal communities whose lives depend on the utilization of fisheries and marine resources, are experiencing a shift towards diversifying the business of marine tourism services. This research aims to analyze exploring marine tourism for the sustainable empowerment of coastal communities. This research was carried out in the southern coastal area of West Java Province. The method used is a quantitative description and the data used is primary and secondary, with 120 respondents. The tool used is a quantitative description with a non-parametric statistical approach. The research will be conducted from April 2023 – June 2024. Based on research results marine tourism is highly dependent on the quality of coastal ecosystems to attract tourists and is very vulnerable to climate change and loss of biodiversity. Coastal tourism is expected to stimulate new high-quality economic opportunities for coastal communities, restore the natural environment, and revitalize culture and heritage. Exploring marine tourism for sustainable empowerment of coastal communities is transforming coastal zones for sustainable marine tourism as a recovery effort: focus on policy, developing strategies to increase sustainable and resilient funding for conservation, integrating sustainability indicators, conducting value chain analysis to improve community welfare, and collaboration between stakeholders.

Keywords: coastal, community, empowerment, marine, tourism, sustainable, empowerment, socio-economic

Pages: 619-628