Bogor City Tourism Promotion Strategy through the Calendar of Events 2022 ^†

Abstract

Tourism plays a very important role in the economic growth of Bogor City. One form of development and promotion of Bogor City tourism involves the use of the Calendar of Events 2022. This study aimed to evaluate the tourism promotion strategy of Bogor City through the Calendar of Events. This study used qualitative methods with data collection techniques in the form of literature studies, observations, and interviews. The results showed that tourism promotion through the Calendar of Events 2022 has been successful in the preparation, launch, and implementation of events.

1. Introduction

The tourism industry is an important sector for economic progress. The tourism industry in Indonesia continues to increase from year to year; however, during the COVID-19 pandemic, the tourism industry became one of the many sectors that felt the most impact. In Indonesia, one of the service cities that relies on economic turnover from the tourism sector is Bogor City. The City of Bogor is a buffer for the National Capital City, which has a variety of tourism potential. Its strategic location, rich culture, culinary, and natural potential make it a special attraction for both foreign and domestic tourists. Bogor has excellent tourist destinations that are visited by many, such as the Bogor Botanical Gardens, the Jungle Waterpark, Kuntum Farmfield, Jbound Outbound and Edutainment, Bogor Mini Zoo, Devoyage Bogor, and so on. However, there are still hundreds of tourist destinations, events, and other tourist attractions that are not yet known to tourists. For this reason, tourism promotion and marketing is a program that must be continuously improved.

The City of Bogor also has many tourism industries, such as the hospitality industry; the tour and travel industry; and the meetings, incentives, conventions, and exhibitions (MICE) industry. The MICE industry is one of the industries being developed to revitalize tourism in the City of Bogor. Efforts are being made to revive the Bogor City tourism industry in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic by collecting, curating, and determining the best events to be held in Bogor City in the form of Calendar of Events (COE) 2022.

The Bogor City Calendar of Events 2022 has the goal of increasing the number of both foreign and domestic tourist visits to levels seen in the years before the COVID-19 pandemic. In addition, by promoting and marketing events organized in the city, tourist destinations in the City of Bogor can be widely known not only for culinary and superior tourism but also for culture, customs, and other tourist attractions, such as tourist villages, historical places, and so on.

Based on data from the Bogor City Tourism and Culture Office in 2022, there has been an increase in the number of tourists to Bogor City in the last five years. There were 6,106,582 tourists in 2017; 7,965,987 tourists in 2018; 9,160,885 tourists in 2019; 3,457,722 tourists in 2020; and 3,734,340 tourists in 2021. Currently, the Bogor City Tourism and Culture Office is trying to increase tourist arrivals through the promotion of various activities, one of which is through the Bogor City Calendar of Events 2022. This prompted the authors to come up with title of this work: “Bogor City Tourism Promotion Strategy through the Calendar of Events 2022”.

Promotion plays an important role in tourism development. The number of both foreign and domestic tourist visits in the City of Bogor is strongly influenced by the promotional activities carried out. Therefore, in this article, the author intend to discuss the Bogor City tourism promotion strategy through the Calendar of Events 2022.

2. Method

This study used a qualitative approach. Qualitative approach is carried out in a natural setting, and the data collected are generally qualitative [1]. The researchers used purposive sampling as the informant selection technique [2]. Data collection was carried out through observations, interviews, and literature study.

3. Literature

Promotion is an element in the marketing mix that aims to inform, persuade, and remind people about the company’s products [3]. Promotional activities are intended to influence consumers so that they are familiar with the products offered and thus buy these products [4]. According to Kotler and Armstrong [5], the promotion mix is a combination of all information flows and is only carried out by one particular organization or individual.

Several previous studies on tourism promotion can be seen in the work of Diah [6], which explains that the most effective tourism promotion strategy is carried out by the NTB Provincial Tourism Office using a promotional mix strategy, namely, advertising, personal selling, public relations, and direct marketing. Prastiyanti and Yulianto’s research [7] explains that the DIY Tourism Office carries out promotion by advertising through print media, electronic media, modern media in the form of social media, and public relations media in the form of organizing events or exhibitions. Selviana’s research explains the communication strategy of the Ponorogo Tourism Office through the Ponorogo Tourism Event Calendar 2019 [8].

Promotion is part of marketing. Promotion is something that is used to inform and persuade the market about a new product or service from the company through advertising, personal selling, sales promotion, and publication [5]. Marketing and promotion strategies are used to embed the company and its products in the minds of consumers to win the market. The following are some of the components in marketing and promotion strategies: segmentation, targeting, positioning, and differentiation [9].

An event is a type of promotional activity in marketing. Events are organized by an organization or company to build brand awareness and improve the company’s image [10]. An event is a type of promotion that is often used by companies to connect a brand to consumers and is developed with the aim of creating an experience and promoting a product or service. Event marketing is a promotional activity designed to attract and involve a brand’s target audience [11,12].

4. Results and Discussion

Calendar of Events is one of the strategies adopted by the Ministry of Tourism to promote tourism, whereby events are used to increase tourist visits, including attracting foreign tourists and mobilizing domestic tourists to travel within Indonesia. The Calendar of Events itself is in the form of an image containing a “List of Events” that will be held or are naturally held as part of the customs of the local community. They are carried out periodically (weekly, monthly, or yearly) and packaged in such a way that they can attract local, regional, and global tourists.

The Ministry of Tourism’s Calendar of Events strategy has been adopted at the provincial and district/city levels. One of cities that is using this tool to promote tourism is the City of Bogor. The Bogor City Tourism and Culture Office is carrying out a marketing and tourism promotion strategy for the City of Bogor using the Calendar of Events 2022, which was first inaugurated through the Calendar of Events 2022 Launch on Monday, 7 March 2022 at the IPB International Convention Center (IICC), Botani Square. It was broadcast directly through the Bogor City Government’s Youtube account and the Tokopedia Play application. The concept presented during the launch was also a collaboration between traditional and modern culture, with special performances from Alfiroos Joluwin (finalist of X Factor Indonesia), Sanggar Gendes Pamantes, and Vocal Group D’Voice Institut Pertanian Bogor (IPB).

The success of the Calendar of Events 2022 Launch in Bogor City cannot be separated from the marketing and promotion process carried out by the Bogor City Tourism and Culture Office. The marketing strategy carried out can be analyzed with reference to the marketing strategy consisting of segmentation, target, positioning, and differentiation components [9] as follows:

• Segmentation is the most important activity carried out by event organizers. Here, consumers are segmented to create the expected satisfaction and suitability. Geographic segmentation relates to several tourist destinations that support the organizing of an event. In demographic segmentation, each event organizer has its own market segmentation that is mostly open to people of all walks of life and genders (male and female), all age categories, and all segments of social class (lower class to upper class).
• According to the segmentation analysis that was carried out, the target market (targeting) for the Bogor City Tourism and Culture Office through the Bogor City Calendar of Events 2022 is a group of consumers from all genders, ages, and segments of social class. The target market includes both domestic and foreign tourists.
• For market position (positioning), the Bogor City Calendar of Events 2022 adopts a new concept. The Calendar of Events is presented in a unique way and wants to provide entertainment away from the hustle and bustle of work and accommodate all segments of society as its target market, making every event held very interesting to visit on weekends.
• As a differentiation strategy, the Bogor City Calendar of Events 2022 includes events that prioritize the 5C aspects (creative value, commercial value, communication value, content value, and COE commitment). In addition, each event can provide benefits for local communities and valuable experiences for both domestic and international tourists with various categories of events offered, such as arts and culture, culinary, tradition, fashion, music, sports, economics, creative, MICE, and more.

Technically, the calendar of events marketing strategy begins with planning and selecting event agendas from the community and industry, from which 37 events from various tourism stakeholders are included in the Bogor City Calendar of Events 2022. From the 130 total events, 37 priority events were selected to represent Bogor in all aspects in 2022, including sport tourism, culture, and culinary.

The promotion of the Calendar of Events 2022 for the City of Bogor is carried out in various ways:

• Promoting potential sponsors and partners, such as Tokopedia, Tiket.com, Sangkuriang, Traveloka, OYO, Shopee, Gojek, Grab, Mediamove, and other partners. Tokopedia and Mediamove became sponsors of the Bogor City Calendar of Events 2022 Launch; Sangkuriang sponsored activities outside the Bogor City Calendar of Events 2022 event; Tiket.com and Grab became forums for the development of Bogor City tourism, especially tourist villages; and Gojek became the sponsor of the Sharing Takjil–Live Cooking events in the Bogor City Calendar of Events 2022.
• Cooperating with ASITA by creating tour packages to the City of Bogor in the form of historical tours, educational tours, family tours, and others tours in which, in addition to introducing the tourism potential of Bogor City, tourists are also invited to know about and participate in every event in the Calendar of Events 2022.
• Coordinate with the West Java Provincial Government so that there are four leading Bogor City events that are included in the West Java Calendar of Events 2022 (WJCOE 2022), namely, the Cap Go Meh-Bogor Street Festival, Record Store Day, Bogor Half Marathon, and the Tourism Village Festival.

The Bogor City Tourism and Culture Office also uses social media in the form of Instagram and websites to promote the Bogor City Calendar of Events 2022. Some of the steps taken to promote the initiative through social media are as follows:

• The theme of event “More Fun in the City of Bogor”. The theme is used in every Instagram caption to invite both foreign and domestic tourists to visit the City of Bogor.
• The Department of Tourism and Culture of the City of Bogor conducts promotions through social media in the form of content feeds and Instagram reels regarding the Bogor City Calendar of Events 2022 on Instagram through @parbudkotabogor and @pemkotbogor, such as general information about the Bogor City Calendar of Events 2022, existing events in the Bogor City Calendar of Events 2022, flyers from each event organizer, and flyers for the H-7 event for the Calendar of Events 2022 Launch in Bogor City. In addition, an Instagram story (IG story) regarding the Calendar of Events 2022 in Bogor City has also been uploaded.
• Promotion is carried out through the website disparbud.kotabogor.go.id/event.

The City of Bogor has made maximum efforts to support the development of tourism by developing COE 2022 and selecting various places to hold events in 2022.

5. Conclusions

Based on the analysis and discussion carried out regarding the marketing strategy and tourism promotion of the City of Bogor through the Calendar of Events 2022, the authors can draw the following conclusions:

• The Bogor City Calendar of Events 2022 is an effective and informative marketing and promotion strategy for tourism in Bogor City.
• Bogor City tourism marketing and promotion strategies through the Calendar of Events 2022 have a positive impact on Bogor City tourism development.