Communicating sustainable environment and pro-poor policy in tourism in Indonesia: A discourse network analysis

Abstract

The development of tourism to increase the regional economy sometimes becomes a source of environmental damages. The problem that is addressed in this paper is: how can tourism development support the sustainable environment policy and at the same time increase the economy. This study aims to analyze how the values of sustainable environment and economic development are represented and discussed in the tourism policy of Geopark Karangsambung-Karangbolong (GKK), Kebumen, Central Java, Indonesia. This study employs a quantitative approach with Discourse Network Analysis as the main technique. The data is taken from the news stories published on the geopark.kebumenkab.go.id before the Covid-19 pandemic (January 2019 - March 15, 2020) and during the pandemic (March 16, 2020 - June 30, 2021). The unit of analysis is words or phrases in the news story which represent: (1) discourses on preserving the healthy environment; (2) discourses on improving the economic welfare and reducing poverty; and (3) network of actors related to the discourse. This study finds that the communication of GKK sustainable environment policy contains discourses on sustainable tourism, affirmative actions to poverty reduction in the region, and the involvement of the pentahelix elements.