Gorontalo Holds Social Media Tourism Marketing Training Session
Jakarta. The Gorontalo Tourism Agency held a technical training session on tourism marketing through social media in the provincial capital on Aug. 4-5.
In a statement released by on Sunday (06/08), the Ministry of Tourism said the 50 participants consisted of bloggers, vloggers, tourism ambassadors and students majoring in tourism.
The main speakers were Hariyanto, acting assistant deputy for domestic tourism marketing at the ministry, and Himawan of Indonesia.travel.
"It is very smart of the administration to hold this event because social media is the most effective and cheapest way to promote tourism destinations in Gorontalo," Hariyanto said.
The event is in line with the ministry's main priorities to boost tourism: homestays, air connectivity and digital marketing.
"Especially for the millennial generation, it's very important to promote tourism on digital media because it will go viral and spread throughout the world," Hariyanto added.
On the first day of the event, Rendy Wijaya, a tourism lecturer at Gorontalo State University (UNG), said based on a survey by the Indonesian Service Providers Association (APJII), there were 132.7 million internet users in Indonesia last year.
"Of those, 82.2 million [62 percent] were workers and entrepreneurs; 22 million [16.6 percent] housewives; 10.3 million [7.8 percent] university students; and 8.3 million [6.3 percent] school students," Rendy said.
He explained that 63.1 million, or 47.6 percent, of internet users in Indonesia use smartphones to go online, while 67.2 million, or 50.7 percent use smartphones and laptops, and 2.2 million, or 1.7 percent only use computers.
"The purpose of this event is to provide a strategy to improve understanding and technical capabilities in managing social media as a means of promoting regional tourism," said Ketty Bin Umar, head of tourism destinations at the Gorontalo Tourism Agency.
Tourism Minister Arief Yahya meanwhile expressed hope that the "Go Digital" marketing strategy may help Indonesian achieve its target of 20 million tourists annually by 2019.
"Digital usage will make Indonesian tourism roar louder. The more digital, the more personal; the more digital, the more professional; the more digital the more global," Arief said.
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