PORTALJABAR, GARUT REGENCY - Head of the Creative Economy (Ekraf) Division of the Tourism and Culture Office (Disparbud) of Garut Regency, Aulia Malik, admitted that Garut does not yet have a specific city branding.

Therefore, his party invited several parties to determine the right direction for the identity of the city of Garut.

"Whether it is towards tourism, or towards what direction. Maybe with this activity we can focus more on determining Garut's city branding," said Aulia, after holding a preparatory meeting for developing the Garut Regency city branding program on Thursday (10/17/2024).

The event, which took place in the Disparbud Office Hall, aimed to find a unique identity that could represent Garut Regency in the context of city branding.

In the meeting, Aulia said that the strategy to promote Garut Regency's identity as a leading destination was also discussed.

Some of the steps that will be taken include developing digital content, collaborating with content creators and influencers, organizing various cultural events, tourism, and creative economy products.

In addition, there will be cooperation with the private sector and other governments to strengthen Garut's image as a tourist city.

"The photo and videography competition is the basis for later making tourism branding and will be sustainable as the basis for future city branding competitions for 2025," explained Aulia.

In the meeting, various strategic views were successfully gathered to advance the potential of tourism and the creative economy in this region.

Aulia Malik explained that the main vision of the city branding program is to make Garut a leading destination that is widely known, both nationally and internationally. The main focus is to prioritize the uniqueness of local culture, natural beauty, and sustainable creative economic potential.

Furthermore, Aulia Malik explained that the short-term target of this city branding program is to increase the number of tourist visits, strengthen collaboration with the private sector and communities, and develop supporting tourism infrastructure.

"Meanwhile, for the long term, Garut Regency hopes to become a leading tourist destination at the national and international levels, with an increase in foreign tourist visits, as well as the development of a sustainable creative ecosystem," he explained.

The unique factors that will be raised to strengthen the image of Garut Regency at the national and international levels include natural tourism, such as water destinations, cultural traditions including performing arts, and the creative economy.

"Garut Regency itself has won an award as a Creative Regency in the 2024 Creative KaTa program," he said.

However, Aulia Malik also highlighted that the readiness of infrastructure and supporting facilities still needs to be improved.

"This includes road accessibility, public transportation, tourism destination development, as well as accommodation facilities and tourism information centers," he continued.

Aulia Malik said that the discussion managed to answer many confusions related to the concept and technical implementation of city branding.

"In the future, there will be further discussions to accelerate the realization of this program," he said.

Regarding the main challenges in developing the city branding program, Aulia Malik explained that community involvement is a key factor. Without community support in maintaining Garut's good image, this program is difficult to develop.

"Other challenges include changes in socio-economic dynamics, the need to follow city marketing trends and innovations, and maintaining the consistency of Garut's identity and image to remain relevant and," he concluded. (Garut Communication and Information Service/Revo)