Digital Marketing in Unsustainable Wildlife Tourism (A Study on the Practice of Marketing Communication of Sea Turtles Observation Tourism)

• Published in: Journal of physics. Conference series Vol. 1114; no. 1; pp. 12126 - 12137
• Main Authors: Agustin, Herlina, Supriadi, Dandi, Hidayat, Dadang Rahmat
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Bristol IOP Publishing 01.11.2018
• Subjects: Digital marketing; Endangered species; Fisheries; Marketing; Natural resources; Reptiles & amphibians; Resource conservation; Sea turtles; Tourism; Wildlife conservation; Wildlife management
• ISSN: 1742-6588; 1742-6596
• DOI: 10.1088/1742-6596/1114/1/012126

Visiting turtle's breeding sites is often regarded as good natural tourism to show concern about endangered species. Not all of the sites in Indonesia is run by authorized institutions such as the Natural Resources Conservation Agency or the Fisheries Office. Many local communities also try to take benefit by running the breeding sites independently. Consequently, the managers need to cover the costs by offering turtle observation tourism. They are mostly doing the marketing through various digital media as the most economical method. However, as shown in the advertisement, the offered tour does not support the sustainable ecological tourism. The shelters are not compatible with the turtle's requirement to swim. The sites are also overpopulated, which causing cannibalism. The managers also allow visitors to touch or lift the turtle from the water and consume the eggs. Besides, they also offer accessories from turtle carapace, as well as trading preserved sea turtles. This study looks at the contradictory between tourism and conservation through the content of the applied digital marketing. By using a critical discourse analysis method, this study concludes that there are absolute necessities to increase the awareness of the tourists and the turtle breeders about sustainable tourism.