The Role and Communication Activities of Tourism Aware Communities for Tourism Promotion in Wakatobi Regency

Abstract

The tourism industry has experienced a slump during the Covid 19 pandemic from 2020 to 2023. Even though 2018 and 2019 recorded achievements in the number of tourist visits in Indonesia. This prompted the government to create a programme of 10 new Bali flagship tourist destinations including Wakatobi. One Non Government Organisation (NGO) that is active in conducting promotions is Generasi Pesona Indonesia (GenPi) Wakatobi, which actively shares information about Wakatobi's tourism activities and potential through its Instagram account. Even more active than government institutions. How the role and tourism marketing communication activities carried out by this community are the focus of this research. This research is a qualitative study using a constructivist paradigm. Burhan Bungin's concept of tourism communication and social media management are used to describe the phenomenon. The findings show that Genpi Wakatobi's role as a content creator on Instagram social media. In addition to Instagram, Genpi also collaborates with the Wakatobi tourism office, the NGO community, the tourist village community and junior / senior high school educational institutions.