MP: Best tourism advertisements sell experiences, not destinations

Jakarta (ANTARA) - Member of Commission VII of the Indonesian House of Representatives, Hendry Munief, stated that the paradigm of tourism promotion has now changed, with the best advertisements no longer selling places but selling experiences. According to him, local governments can promote tourism with simple concepts that have a broad impact. He assessed that local governments can form digital communities, and every piece of content from those digital communities can be viralised onto the global stage. “There are still many extraordinary destinations that have not been exposed. This is a big task for us all,” said Hendry in a written statement received in Jakarta on Thursday. He conveyed this while attending the Wonderful Indonesia Branding Promotion through Social Media event held by the Ministry of Tourism in Rokan Hulu, Riau. According to him, the region has very strong tourism assets with at least 96 scattered tourism potentials. However, he noted that only a handful of destinations are widely known to the public. “This is proof that even small things, if packaged properly, can become a big explosion. Low budget but high impact - the budget can be small, but the impact must be big,” he said. For this reason, according to him, all parties such as local content creators, Instagram celebrities, TikTokers, influencers, and nature lover communities need to be involved in promoting the natural beauty in their respective areas. This is because, he stated, the tourism sector can act as a catalyst for the regional economy, invigorating micro, small, and medium enterprises, opening up job opportunities, and increasing regional own-source revenue (PAD).