PENGARUH WORD OF MOUTH , MEDIA SOSIAL, IKLAN WISATA DAN PERSEPSI BIAYA WISATA TERHADAP BRAND IMAGE WISATA HUTAN MERANTI KAB. KOTABARU, KALIMANTAN SELATAN

Meranti Forest Tourism is an ecotourism destination that requires effective marketing strategies to build its brand image. This study aims to determine the influence of Word of Mouth, social media, tourism advertising, and cost perception on the brand image of Meranti Forest Tourism in Kotabaru Regency, South Kalimantan. The research was conducted using a descriptive quantitative approach by distributing Likert-scale questionnaires to 130 tourist respondents aged 17–56 years. The sampling technique used was purposive sampling. Data were analyzed using Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) based on the Partial Least Square (PLS) method with the help of SmartPLS 3.0 software. The results show that tourism advertising and cost perception have a significant influence on brand image. Clear and attractive advertising, along with affordable cost perception, strengthens the positive image of the destination. Conversely, Word of Mouth and social media have no significant influence, indicating the need for more optimal strategies in managing recommendation-based and digital promotions. The brand image of Meranti Forest Tourism is more strongly influenced by tourism advertising and cost perception than by Word of Mouth and social media factors. These findings provide implications for tourism managers to emphasize more on attractive visual promotion strategies and maintain affordable costs to strengthen the destination’s image