South Korea’s over 3300 islands play vital roles in the nation’s geography, economy, culture, and national security. Despite their importance, these islands face significant challenges, including population decline, aging demographics, and a severe lack of healthcare, childcare, and education facilities. With only 20% of inhabited islands connected to the mainland by bridges, coastal ferries are the primary transportation mode. However, the infrequent ferry services and numerous intermediate stops cause considerable inconvenience. This study conducts an analysis of the coastal ferry route connectivity within the Mokpo Area, focusing on proposing improvements to enhance access to community infrastructure for local island residents. This study analyzes the Mokpo Area’s coastal ferry network, identifying Dochodo as a central hub island to improve connectivity for sustainable island development. By reorganizing routes around Dochodo with larger ferries for main routes and smaller ferries for local trips, the study aims to enhance service access and boost tourism for island communities.

One of Indonesia’s main characteristics of tourism development is maritime tourism, which is synonymous with archipelagic countries. The diversity of maritime tourism offered by Indonesia will never end, so it needs to be considered more carefully and used relevantly to create sustainable tourism in Indonesia that provides broad benefits for the country. Many maritime tourism locations in Indonesia are beautiful but require more active promotion. The level of security and terrorism issues are a requirement that the government must consider. The novelty of this research describes the potential ecotourism development in the town of Makassar that stakeholders should consider in the formation of tourism policy. The research locations are in Makassar City, Samalona Island, Langkai Island, and Lanjukang Island. Ecotourism developed in the coastal areas of Makassar City, especially in Samalona, Lanjukang, and Langkai Islands, produces superior objects that collaborate elements of nature and society as the main attraction in the long term. Therefore, local governments need to strengthen monitoring of regional geopolitical developments in order to avoid security and terrorism problems that might cause inconvenience to tourists.

This study aims to analyze connectivity or accessibility between regions in Wakatobi islands, both within and between islands, to understand the available transportation network. Based on an understanding of the dynamics of connectivity, it is expected to provide a solid foundation for the development of more efficient and sustainable transportation infrastructure in the future. A combination of qualitative and quantitative approaches is used to explore data more comprehensively and accurately. The two primary airports and several ports are still insufficient in enhancing connectivity for both the residents and tourists within the archipelago. Improving road, sea, and air transportation networks is a necessity and expectation to improve connectivity between regions. An analysis of accessibility potential provides an overview of transportation costs and expensive and long travel fares. There are several needs that need to be met in the form of the revitalization of local ports, the development of the concept of Air Buses between crossing ports, optimizing routes between airports, and the implementation of Bus/BRT (Bus Rapid Transit) on each island with feeder lines. Furthermore, the development of connectivity in Wakatobi must consider various alternative modes of transportation, increasing service frequencies, and developing supporting infrastructure. This conclusion is the basis for the preparation of a holistic and sustainable connectivity development plan in the Wakatobi archipelago.