LITERATURE AS A TOURISM ATTRACTION

Abstract

Literature can be used as a sustainable tourism attraction considering its uniqueness related to the culture of society with all its phenomena where literature grows and develops. Cultural products in the form of literary works both oral and written are always related to the name of the places, events, and characters. Indeed, events, characters and places in literature are often used as tourism branding, attraction, and promotional media. The relationship between those elements in the development of literary tourism has not yet been realized, even though literature has contributed to attracting tourists and tourism has also contributed to spread the literature. As a tourist attraction, literature can be observed in various forms such as the name of destinations, tourism attractions set in literary works, the legacy of authors with their works, literary events, and other cultural products originating from literary stories. In this study, literature acting as tourism attraction is seen in various forms of creativity that can provide benefits and profits. This study uses literature review, utilizing literature from various sources including online media, websites to obtain data related to literature, tourism, and tourist attractions. In addition, the finding is also gained through observation of various phenomena in society. The data were analyzed using qualitative descriptive methods. This study reveals that literature as a tourist attraction in its existence provides mutual benefits both in profitability and hospitality possessed by literature in supporting the existence of tourism. Literature contributes to tourism through the popularity of both oral and written literary works that have been used as branding for tourism destinations taken from the names of characters or events.