The Implementation of Tourism Policies in Sikka Regency: Tracing the Role of Local Government in Maintaining Tourism Places

The tourism sector plays a significant source of foreign exchange profits and promotes national economic growth, particularly in terms of lowering unemployment and boosting a country's productivity. However, a tourism destination located in a village frequently produces conflicts of interest between stakeholders and tourism service providers in the community. Thus, this research is intended to find out what are the government policies towards the sustainability of the tourism sector in Sikka Regency. In addition, this research aims to investigate the impacts of Tourism policies conducted by Sikka Regency Government. This research uses qualitative research design by employing interviews and documentation to gain the comprehensive data. The results of this study indicate that there are several programs conducted by the Tourism and Culture office in Sikka Regency. The programs are increasing attractiveness of tourist destinations program, tourism marketing program, and tourism and creative economy resource development program. In implementing the programs, several activities carried out starting from maximising socialisation, implementing several programs by involving all stakeholders to work together in optimising tourist destinations. In addition, the Tourism and Culture office also provides tourism personnel with education and training related to the program. Furthermore, the Tourism and Culture office establishes rules for each tourist destination to record and report the Regional Original Revenue. The implementation of tourism policies in Sikka Regency has been effective. It can be seen from the increase of Regional Original Revenue 2021-2024, especially in the tourism sector. Several suggestions are that the Tourism and Culture office need to improve infrastructure and collaborate with other tourist attraction managers to build links.