MARKETING STRATEGY DEVELOPMENT OF GEOPARK CILETUH PELABUHAN RATU SUKABUMI

• Main Author: Putri Besari, Anindita
• Format: Final Project
• Language: Indonesia
• Online Access: https://digilib.itb.ac.id/gdl/view/78509
• Institution: Institut Teknologi Bandung

In December 2017, Geopark Ciletuh Pelabuhan Ratu will be brought to an international UNESCO conference in which the achievement of Global Geopark title will be determined. However up until June 2017, the management is still hampered on the requirement of educational aspect, due to the number of visitors from the educational age is still on minimum rate. This research was conducted to understand the business environment of Geopark Ciletuh as a tourism destination and to develop marketing strategy for Geopark Ciletuh Pelabuhan Ratu with the aim of increasing the number of visitors from the educational age. This research used strategic management approach in which five methods were used for environmental scanning; General Environment Analysis, Industry Analysis, and Competitor Analysis for the external environment as well as Resource Analysis and Value Chain Analysis for the company's internal environment. The method used in this research is qualitative approach by interviewing the management of Geopark Ciletuh, as well as interview session with visitors regarding their perceptions of visiting geoparks. Result of the study showed that Geopark tourism industry is supported by political and socio-demographic factors, economic and technological aspects need to be updated regularly since it acts as the contributive factors to the industry. The industry itself is quite in favorable condition identified by five aspects which are low threat of new entrants, low rivalry among existing firms, low bargaining power of suppliers, high threat of substitutes, and moderate bargaining power of buyers. The external and internal factors of Geopark Ciletuh were categorized using SWOT and TOWS Matrix was generated in order to identify the marketing strategic alternatives. The proposed alternatives were creating a new pricing regulation in the form of set a trip bundling package, collaboration with Sukabumi’s Ministry of Education, and collaboration with local content creators. The alternatives were focused on the process of socialization, promotion, and cooperation with several parties through intermediaries. For the recommendation, this research recommend several aspects based on 7 points of marketing mix which are improving the Product, Price, Place, Promotion, People, Process, and Physical Evidence aspects.