CULTURAL DIPLOMACY THROUGH TOURISM PROMOTION: INDONESIA’S CULTURAL DIPLOMACY TO THE UNITED KINGDOM (2014 – 2018)

Abstract

The significant contribution of the global tourism sector towards a large portion of economic and human resources development has generated Indonesia sees its potential to utilize its abundant cultural elements and natural wealth through tourism promotion activities that aim to gain public awareness and acknowledgment upon Indonesian culture from the international audience. This research study aims to determine how the Indonesian government under the administration of President Jokowi Dodo and Vice President Jusuf Kalla (2014 - 2018) conducted Indonesia’s cultural diplomacy to the United Kingdom through tourism promotion activities such as festivals, exhibitions, and sales missions. Further, a deeper analysis will be served to find a specific cultural element that most frequently utilized in the United Kingdom. The research method used to collect the data in this study is a qualitative method by applying the content analysis technique in explaining the variable. The references obtained from primary data, namely written official government documents from the Ministry of Tourism, specifically the report of Deputy Marketing Development II, RENSTRA 2015-19, RPJMN 2015-19 and secondary data, namely books, journals, reports, official website or other online media related to the scope of the study. The result of the study showed that the conduct of Indonesia's cultural diplomacy to the United Kingdom through tourism promotion from 2014 to 2018 reflected a close correlation between tourism promotion and cultural diplomacy that goes in harmony - which shows that in conducting tourism promotion activities, Indonesia is also practicing its cultural diplomacy and vice versa.