The influence of branding on tourist interest in Petengoran Mangrove Ecotourism

Products in the form of services, such as ecotourism, rarely create branding for their business. As branding is important to increase tourist interest to visit, this research aims to identify the branding activities carried out by the manager and analyse the branding of Petengoran Mangrove Ecotourism in relation to the interest of tourists visiting. Data collection was through interviews with two key informants and questionnaires distributed to 80 tourists from December 2022-January 2023. The analytical methods used were descriptive qualitative and Structural Equation Modeling with the Partial Least Square methods. Based on research, the ecotourism manager created the brand using a logo and social media to disseminate information about Petengoran Mangrove Ecotourism. The three variables used to explain branding in this study, namely brand personality, brand positioning, and brand relationship, show a positive and significant effect on tourist interests. However, several indicators included in the three variables, such as sincerity, excitement, competence, sophistication in brand personality variables, uniqueness in brand positioning, and commitment in brand relationship, have no effect and must be improved to increase tourist interest in Petengoran Mangrove Ecotourism.


Introduction
A Trip made by tourists to remote areas to carry out tourist activities to enjoy and learn about nature without damaging the environment, prioritizing the preservation of natural resources, and helping to improve the economy of local communities can be referred to as ecotourism [1].Ecological tourism or ecotourism can be applied in various forms of forest areas, such as conservation forests, protected forests, production forests [2], and mangrove forests which can also be used as ecotourism areas.The most considered aspects of an ecotourism business are the unique natural conditions of the tourist attraction concerned, the available infrastructure, human resources in the location, and the level of education and culture of the community [3].
Efforts to maintain the use of ecosystems with the concept of sustainability are in line with the concept of Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).SDGs consist of 17 global goals that need public attention.Of the 17 goals, there are at least 3 (three) goals related to coastal ecosystems, namely goal 13 (climate change), goal 14 (underwater life), and goal 15 (life above land).The use of mangrove ecosystems with the principle of ecotourism is in line with efforts to realize the SDGs agenda.Even with ecotourism that can improve the community's economy, the use of mangrove ecosystems also 1315 (2024) 012037 IOP Publishing doi:10.1088/1755-1315/1315/1/012037 2 contributes to the completion of goal 1, namely poverty which has been synonymous with coastal communities [4].
Tourists will be more interested in visiting ecotourism locations where all aspects are at good levels.The uniqueness that exists in ecotourism locations needs to be introduced to the community by doing tourism marketing.Tourism marketing aims to strive for a tourist destination to be sold to consumers so that it can improve the welfare of the surrounding community [5].Tourism destinations set by business actors in a brand have implicit promises in them that must be conveyed to visitors through marketing [6].
A crowded market environment requires a strong brand to compete in it.Ecotourism branding is very important to do because it relates to the perspective of consumers (tourists) on tourist attractions.Branding activities will make it easier for tourists to distinguish one location from another [7] and can determine the sustainability of a brand [8].Currently, not many ecotourism locations develop branding in their ecotourism marketing.One of the ecotourism locations that is developing its ecotourism brand is the Harau Valley in West Sumatra Province conducted by Amadia (2020) [9], researchers developed destination branding of Harau Valley tourist attractions to form a strong brand image and brand positioning in the minds of tourists.Another study conducted by Valencia et al. (2020) [10] on Tanjung Kelayang Beach, Bangka Belitung Islands Province, focused on providing strategy proposals in accordance with destination branding so that the image of the destination can be stronger and build the competitive side of tourist destinations.The difference between other research and research conducted is the type of ecotourism location and branding activities carried out.
Lampung Province has many marine tourism potentials such as mangrove tourism, beach tourism, and other unique marine tourism.One of them is Petengoran Mangrove ecotourism which offers beautiful views of mangrove forests and the sea.Petengoran Mangrove Ecotourism, which is managed by the Gebang Village community together with the village government, already has a brand for ecotourism.However, the recognition of this brand is still limited as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic.The development of ecotourism branding is very important to introduce the identity that forms the Petengoran Mangrove Ecotourism brand to tourists.For this reason, this study was conducted to analyze the influence of Petengoran Mangrove Ecotourism branding on tourist visit interest by identifying branding activities carried out by Petengoran Mangrove Ecotourism managers.

Methods
The research was conducted in December 2022-January 2023 at Petengoran Mangrove Ecotourism located in Gebang Village, Teluk Pandan District, Pesawaran Regency, Lampung Province.Tourist sampling is taken by a combination of purposive sampling-accidental sampling methods with the criteria of having visited other ecotourism locations and having a minimum age of 17 years, while managers use the purposive sampling method.Sampling is carried out with the consideration that the existing population changes in number, making it impossible to examine the entire population.According to Hair (2010) [11], if the population is unknown, the minimum number of samples is 5 times the number of variables or indicators contained in the questionnaire.The number of indicators used in this research questionnaire is 16 indicators, consisting of 5 variable indicators of brand personality, 4 variable indicators of brand positioning, 3 variable indicators of brand relationship, and 4 variable indicators of tourist visiting interest so that the number used as a research sample is 80 tourists.To obtain information about branding activities carried out by Petengoran Mangrove Ecotourism managers, researchers took 2 samples from ecotourism managers and Gebang Village officials as key informants who have an important role in managing and regulating Petengoran Mangrove Ecotourism.Two types of data used in this study, namely primary data and secondary data.Primary data includes respondents' identities, branding activities carried out by managers, brand personality, brand positioning, and brand relationships from Petengoran Mangrove Ecotourism.Primary data were obtained from interviews with managers and tourists of Petengoran Mangrove Ecotourism.Secondary data or supporting data is obtained through journals, scientific articles, publications, and other references related to branding in mangrove ecotourism.
Branding activities carried out by the Petengoran Mangrove Ecotourism manager were analyzed using qualitative descriptive methods.The technique used in analyzing data from travelers is by scoring the answers to the list of questions.Scoring using the Likert scale with 5 answer choices, namely strongly disagree (score 1), disagree (score 2), hesitate (score 3), agree (score 4), and strongly agree (score 5).The results obtained after being processed with the Likert Scale were analyzed using the Structural Equation Modeling model with the Partial Least Square (SEM-PLS) method.SEM analysis technique is a method that can be used in statistics to analyze patterns of relationships between variables and indicators, one variable with another, and test measurement errors directly [12].

Petengoran Mangrove Ecotourism Branding
Marketing is a societal process where individuals and groups obtain what they need and want by creating, offering, and freely exchanging valuable products and services with others [13].Based on this definition, the manager of Petengoran Mangrove Ecotourism has done marketing by creating a tourist site that offers views in the form of mangrove forests that are still maintained authenticity to bring tourists.
Mangrove forests that are well-maintained is a main characteristic that is used by Petengoran Mangrove Ecotourism.The types of mangroves in Petengoran are dominated by 2 types, namely Rhizophora sp. and Avicennia sp.Based on the interviews with managers, the word Petengoran is taken from the name of the road to the location, while the word Mangrove is taken from the characteristics of the location.Meanwhile, the manager continued to explain that the term 'ecotourism' was added to complete the whole name of the site, as in 2020, the term ecotourism became a trending, and he thought that it was proper term to use.Thus, the name Petengoran Mangrove Ecotourism was formed from the results of the manager's discussion at the beginning of the opening of the tourist site.The term branding or labeling is more familiar in the marketing world.Activity of labeling is conducted because there are many similar products in circulation, so a differentiator is needed for one product from another [14].The Petengoran Mangrove Ecotourism Management have carried out activities of branding without realiazing that they have done it.This because the manager does not understand the term branding.Branding activities carried out by the manager are including making the Petengoran Mangrove Ecotourism logo (Figure 2).Making a logo is one of the branding techniques that can be used to build a brand [9].Another activity carried out by the manager to strengthen the Petengoran Mangrove Ecotourism brand is by utilizing social media to introduce Petengoran Mangrove Ecotourism and as a market strategy.The social media used is privately owned by the Chairman of Gebang Mangrove Conservation (https://www.instagram.com/hutan_mangrovelampung/ and https://www.facebook.com/putramangrove.petengorangebang),this is due to the lack of human resources who have marketing skill that can manage branding activity through social media.Branding is important to make tourists more familiar with tourism sites and also have an impact on increasing the number of tourist visits to come [15].The manager relies on the dissemination of information carried out by tourists who come when tourists share their traveling experiences in Petengoran Mangrove Ecotourism.On Instagram, there is a hastag of #mangrovepetengoran that has been used by tourists to share their travel experiences at Petengoran Mangrove Ecotourism, with total shared of more than 100 posts.Social media is a technology that is important in influencing tourist choices [16].
The difference in tourism products offered, in this case the uniqueness of mangrove forests, can be an interesting distinguishing feature as well as a complement to surrounding tourist destinations oriented to marine tourism.This is the main reason that the manager has not initiate to add tourist attractions or tourist activities at Petengoran Mangrove Ecotourism, because tourists can enjoy the view of the nature.Even though special activities in traveling are introduced to tourists, will make tourists more interested in coming to Petengoran Mangrove Ecotourism.For example, tourism products from the Mangrove a b Information Center (MIC) Bali which has developed mangrove educational tours and tracking, bird watching, canoeing, boating, and mangrove tree adoption [17].
According to Syahfitri (2022) [18], number of visitors to Petengoran Mangrove Ecotourism in the period of October 2020 -September 2021 had an average daily arrival of 73 tourists, while in the research period, the highest number of tourists in one day was 40 tourists.In the period of the study, the average number of tourists come on weekdays is 4 tourists, while on Saturday or Sunday, it can reach 7 tourists.On national holidays such as Christmas, the number of tourists come reaches 14 tourists, and on the New Year holiday, January 1, 2023, the number of tourists come reaches 40 people.
The decrease number of visitors to Petengoran Mangrove Ecotourism in the year 2020-2021 was because of the pandemic of Covid-19, which caused many tourist sites were closed except for Petengoran Mangrove Ecotourism.However, at the end of 2021, many tourist sites began to reopen, and tourists have alternatives sites to travel.Based on interviews with tourists who have visited Petengoran Mangrove Ecotourism more than 1 times, it is known that the location remains the same in term of condition which then became one of the reasons of declining number of tourists interest to revisit the location .It can also indicated of lack of marketing activities carried out by the manager.Based on the definition of marketing creating product is one form of marketing activity [13].In this case, Petengoran Mangrove Ecotourism management do not create somenthing new to attract the attention of tourists to revisit .This condition is in line with research conducted by Istianatul (2022) [19], which states that the development of facilities can maintain the existence of tourist sites to increase the number of visitors.

The Influence of Petengoran Mangrove Ecotourism Branding on Tourist Interest
Based on survey, it was known that Petengoran Mangrove Ecotourism has already conducted simple activity of branding, without the management realized that they have done it.Primary data from interviews with 80 tourist respondents were analyzed by using Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) with a Partial Least Square (PLS) approach.SEM-PLS is used to determine the relationship between latent variables, and within latent variables with their construct indicators.In this study, the latent variables were brand personality, brand positioning, brand relationship, and tourist interest.
The first analysis carried out was the evaluation of the measurement model or outer model.The outer model functioned to find out if each indicator corresponds to another latent variables.There are 3 aspects used in the outer model, include convergent validity, discriminant validity, and composite reliability.Convergent validity is used to measure the correlation or relationship between indicators and latent variables.According to Ghozali (2014) [20], to be vaild, the value of the outer loading factors should be above 0.7.The factors loading value shows the amount of correlation between the indicator and the latent variable [21].If the factors loading has a value of 0.7, it means that the correlation created between the indicator and the latent variable is 70%.The results of the outer model can be seen in Figure 4.In Figure 4 it can be seen that 8 indicators do not meet the criteria, where each factor loading must have a value of more than 0.7, then an elimination stage will be carried out on indicators that have a value that less than 0.7.The eliminated indicators are sincerity (PE1), excitement (PE2), competence (PE3), sophistication (PE4), uniqueness (PO2), commitment (RE3), transactional interest (T1), and preferential interest (T3).Meanwhile, 8 indicators that have value less than 0.7, can be caused by tourists who do not realize that Petengoran Mangrove Ecotourism manager has already conducted branding activity.
Sincerity indicators can show sincerity that reflects how brands show consistency in meeting the needs, wants, and expectations of consumers.One example is to see how the manager behaves [22].The excitement indicator is defined as the total amount of interest and affection that customers have for a particular brand.This can be seen from the peculiarities of product design.A very well-designed brand and a very well-crafted brand design produce a pleasant sense of anticipation about the brand [23].Managers who facilitate tourists (e.g., transportation, accommodation, and up-to-date information) can convey messages in the competence indicator [24].
Positioning is an effort to direct customers credibly, therefore the positioning created must have uniqueness and be different from other regional tourism [25].An indicator that is also important to keep developing is the commitment in the brand relationship.The commitment referred to in the brand relationship is the desire of the brand and tourists to maintain the relationship [26].The commitment shown by the brand can make consumers tend to pay more for the brand [27].
Elimination of indicators that do not meet the criteria, in line with research conducted by Irianto et al. ( 2022) which eliminated 11 indicators with fators loading value of <0.7.Loading factors that do not meet the validity requirements will affect the next stage of the calculation.This relates to increasing the AVE value on all latent variables [28].Furthermore, the evaluation for indicators that already have factors loading more than 0.7 can be seen in Figure 5.After re-estimation, the factor loading of each indicator has a value above 0.7, which means there is no need to do elimination.The brand personality variable consists of 1 indicator, namely ruggedness (PE5) with a factor loading of 1.This shows that the Petengoran Mangrove Ecotourism manager has indirectly provided education related to mangrove trees and fish around mangroves to tourists who come.Brand positioning variables consist of 3 indicators, including value (PO1), credibility (PO3), and sustainability (PO4) with the largest factors loading in the value indicator (PO1) of 0.898.The PO1 indicator has the largest factor loading value showing that tourists who come to Petengoran Mangrove Ecotourism feel comfortable.
Brand relationship variables consist of 2 indicators of trust (RE1) and satisfaction (RE2) with RE1 having the highest factor loading value of 0.867, which mean that there is a similarity in the information given by Petengoran Mangrove Ecotourism management and tourists related to travel experiences.The variable of tourist interest consists of 2 indicators, namely referential interest (T2) and exploratory interest (T4) with the highest factors loading value found in the indicator of T2 of 0.927 which means tourists have an interest in referencing or disseminating information about Petengoran Mangrove Ecotourism to relatives.
Furthermore, discriminant validity is carried out by looking at the Average Variance Extracted (AVE) with the condition that the AVE value must be above 0.5 and reliability measurement by looking at the composite reliability value.The criteria of composite reliability is that if the output value is more than 0.7 is declared as reliable.All variables that have an AVE value above 0.5, mean that the construct or latent variable can explain on average more than half of the of the indicators, so it can be said that the model is valid [29].Based on the evaluation of the outer model, all constructs can be said to be reliable and have met the validity and reliability tests The value of AVE and composite reliability can be seen in Table 1.
Table 1 [30].The influence of the independent variable as a whole can be seen on the R-square value using bootstrapping.Bootstrapping is a statistical sampling procedure or technique.Resampling means that respondents are drawn randomly with replacements, from the original sample many times until observation is obtained [31].The results of bootstrapping can be seen in Figure 6.Based on the results of the R2 calculation using SmartPLS, it was obtained that the endogenous latent variables of tourist visiting interest amounted to 0.642.That is, the diversity of tourist visiting interests that can be explained by exogenous latent variables, namely brand personality, brand positioning, and brand relationship is 64.2%, the rest is explained by variables that are not contained in this research model.From the bootstrapping results in Figure 6, we can see the results of values that can be evaluated by looking at the path coefficient parameter.The results of hypothesis testing can be seen in Table 2. ), and a p-value of 0.002 (smaller than 0.05).From these results, it can be concluded that brand personality on tourist visiting interests has a positive and significant impact, meaning that H1 can be accepted.In a hypothesis test 2, the influence of brand positioning on tourist visiting interest, the result of the path coefficient is 0.242 which means positive, the T-statistic test value is 2.243 (greater than the t-table value of 1.96), and the p-value is 0.025 (smaller than 0.05).From these results, it can be concluded that brand positioning on tourist visiting interest has a positive and significant impact, meaning that H2 can be accepted.In a hypothesis test 3, the influence of brand relationship on tourist visiting interest, the result of the path coefficient is 0.437 which means positive, the T-statistic test value is 4.609 (greater than the t-table value of 1.96), and the p-value is 0.000 (smaller than 0.05).From these results, it can be concluded that the brand relationship on tourist visiting interest has a positive and significant impact, meaning that H3 can be accepted.
Based on the results of the analysis, it can be explained that the brand personality variable has a positive effect on the interest of visiting tourists.The better the brand personality felt by tourists, the more likely tourists are to visit Petengoran Mangrove Ecotourism.In line with research conducted by [32], the results of the study explained that Chinese tourists who connect the views of destination brand personalities with personalities owned by individuals, lead to tourist intentions to visit again.Referring to the results of the analysis, brand positioning variables have a positive effect on tourist visiting interest.The better the brand positioning formed by the manager, the more likely tourists will be to prefer to visit Petengoran Mangrove Ecotourism.Destination managers need to position appropriately managed destinations to attract potential tourists [33].Brand relationships also have a positive influence on tourists' visiting interests.The better the relationship created by the manager with tourists, the higher the possibility of tourists visiting Petengoran Mangrove Ecotourism.

Conclusion
Branding activities carried out by the manager are by making logos and utilizing social media to market Petengoran Mangrove Ecotourism.The difference between Petengoran Mangrove Ecotourism and other tourist sites is the uniqueness of mangrove forests that complement surrounding tourist destinations.The variables that most influence the interest of tourists visiting are brand relationship with a t-statistic value of 4.609 and a p-value of 0.000, followed by brand personality with a t-statistic value of 3.051 and a pvalue of 0.002, and brand positioning with a t-statistic value of 2.243 and a p-value of 0.025.The indicators contained in brand relationships are trust and satisfaction; in brand personality is ruggedness; and in brand positioning namely value, credibility, and sustainability.
After testing the eligible outer model, the inner model (structural model) testing is carried out.A structural model is a model that links latent variables.The structural model testing phase includes Path Coefficient testing and variant analysis (R2) or determination test

Table 2 .
Path Coefficient Based on Table 2 in hypothesis test 1, related to the influence of brand personality on tourist visiting interest, has a path coefficient result of 0.320 which means positive, a T-statistic test value of 3.051 (greater than the t-table value of 1.96