Promotional Strategies and the Role of Tourism Ambassadors in Increasing Tourist Visits in Penajam Paser Utara Regency

Abstract

The study aims to analyze the Promotion Strategy and the Role of Tourist Ambassadors in Increasing Tourist Visits in the Northern Market District of Penajam, as well as the inhibitory and supportive factors of such a strategy in increasing the number of tourist visits. The research method used is qualitative descriptive with data collection through in-depth interviews, observations, and field studies—data analysis using content analysis. The role of the tourist ambassador is to increase the number of tourist visits in the district of Penajam Paser North (PPU). A key informant from the Ministry of Culture and Tourism, head of the Promotion Branch, took a sample of two tourist ambassadors, one visitor and one UMKM perpetrator. The data collection techniques in this study are observations, documentation and interviews. This research concludes that the implementation of the promotion strategy and the role of the tourist ambassador is not maximum; only use the existing potential to increase the number of tourist visits, the need for documents for the direction of tourism development, and the support of all elements or elements of the community, so that the tourism visits that exist in the PPU district can be stable without certain days alone. The entrepreneurs and tourist ambassadors have an essential role in the number of tourist visits, the need for a mature promotion strategy, and the presence of information boards of places, distances, and transpositions used in each tourist venue, thus making it easier for the community or other tourists to reach to visit tourist sites in the PPU district, using mass media, the web, and other means of promotion in disseminating tourism that exists in the district of PPU.