Developing The Brand of Batam City as A Sustainable (Green) Tourism Destination through Social Media

Abstract

Various studies have scientifically documented sustainable tourism development in several developing countries. Meanwhile, when social media influences tourist perceptions and their visiting decisions, tourism promoters have widely used social media to form their destination brands by producing promotional materials and distributing them on social media. However, there needs to be more scientific research reporting on the formation of city brands as green destinations through social media. This article collected visual content produced and uploaded by local tourism authorities. Furthermore, Barthes's and Rose’s semiotics were applied to analyze the content to identify the formation of Batam city brands as one of the green destinations in Indonesia. The findings of the article’s research indicated that several themes (marine tourism, agro-and ecotourism, community-based tourism, and sport tourism) are exploited by local tourism authorities to form green destination brands for Batam City. Various signs implying metonymic and synecdochical signs were distributed to highlight the themes, such as beaches, plantation areas, grasslands, and mangrove forests. Based on the study’s findings, various theoretical and practical implications were discussed, and recommendations for future research were suggested.