THE ACTIVITIES OF INDONESIA GASTRODIPLOMACY IN PROMOTING ITS TRADITIONAL FOODS AND DRINKS TOWARDS THE REPUBLIC OF KOREA THROUGH TOURISM PROMOTION (2015-2018)

Abstract

Indonesia as a country that is well-known for its tourism and culinary wealth uses traditional foods and drinks as an instrument of public diplomacy towards people of other countries. The process of implementing public diplomacy through traditional foods and drinks is called gastrodiplomacy. By practicing gastrodiplomacy, Indonesia, through the Minister of Tourism served and promoted traditional food and drinks at the tourism promotion events held directly in the Republic of Korea which is one of the top ten countries with the highest number of visitors to Indonesia. The event held in the form of exhibitions, festivals, sales missions, travel shows, and travel fairs. This aimed to become an allure in making Indonesian culture more widespread in the society of the Republic of Korea and promote its culinary heritage as a soft power tool by providing opportunities for foreign publics to interact directly into their culture. By using a qualitative research method, this thesis will analyze data obtained in the Ministry of Tourism 2015-2018 event report as the primary resource and supported by secondary data from news, internet, and journals to find the dominant traditional foods and drinks promoted by the Ministry of Tourism. Moreover, this thesis also found that although Indonesia has practiced gastrodiplomacy, this country does not yet have an official policy in managing gastrodiplomacy activities toward another country.