INDONESIAN PUBLIC DIPLOMACY THROUGH CULTURAL FESTIVALS TO ATTRACT TOURISM IN THE UNITED KINGDOM (2015 – 2018)

Abstract

ndonesia is a multicultural country that has various ethnicities, races, beliefs, religions, arts, and regional cultures. The richness and diversity of Indonesia are one of the main actors in national development in Indonesia. The practice of public diplomacy is now becoming very common among emerging powers like Indonesia. The use of public diplomacy by Indonesia in the UK will be an important decision in order to strengthen Indonesia's foreign position and image in the eyes of the international community and also Indonesia believes that promoting culture and tourism in the UK will be very important to increase Indonesia existence at international level in terms of international diplomacy. This research will use qualitative research methodology and use public diplomacy, cultural diplomacy, and soft power as theory. Indonesia is serious about carrying out its public diplomacy in the UK through several programs designed to attract the best results for Indonesian domestic interest. Through this analysis it will show that Indonesia has implemented cultural diplomacy to attract tourism through several cultural program promotion in 2015-2018. The use of public diplomacy strategy especially in cultural sector has driven high increase of British tourist to Indonesia