The Importance of Presenting the Point of View of Stories on Heritage Tourist Destinations

1.     Introduction

The focus of this study is on storytelling delivered by tour guides to tourists in the practice of communicating verbally in the heritage tourism area of ​​Kotalama Semarang, Indonesia. Storytelling is the practice of sharing stories as a means of organizing experiences that may be disconnected into interrelated and meaningful episodes of a larger plot such as biography or general history (Littlejohn & Foss, 2009). In storytelling, there is narrative material that has an impact on efforts to persuade the audience to organize and interpret collective and individual phenomena through the dialogue that occurs. The story is a series of tour guide experiences to make an interactive story (Green; Jenkins; 2014, Slater et al. 2014) and tourists have more attention to the material that will be told later (Swensen & Nomeikaate. 2019; Coronel, Jason. C; Ott, Jared M; Lerner, Samuel et all. 2020).

Speaking in the storytelling process is interesting to be raised in this study because it has advantages in strengthening the competence of closeness with the interlocutor, reducing the distortion of the meaning of the message conveyed by the communicator to the audience and communicating directly can carry out a direct verification process if you do not understand the message conveyed like people discussing or having a dialogue. In addition, there has been a shift in demand from quantitative to qualitative in the type of cultural and historical heritage tourism visits, which focus on increasing the search for cultural experiences (Richards, 2018). The narrative of historical stories becomes a point of view that visitors want to look for to increase their preferences for past experiences and their current developments, especially in heritage tourism destinations (Li, Jiao & Zhou, 2024). Heritage tourism has a function in efforts to balance economic growth with efforts to preserve culture and environmental management (Rachmawati, Ardhanariswari, Hendariningrum; 2024).

The presentation of stories plays an important role in attracting audiences in an effort to prove the virtual journey that has been done previously through the consumption of content on digital media carried out by tourists themselves. With a visit, tourists can see direct evidence of existing artifacts, and the story from the guide is a symbolic action in the form of words and/or actions that have a sequence and meaning for those who experience, create, and interpret them. Research related to stories as a communication message has received extensive attention in various disciplines such as studies in the field of communication (Rusnakova, Lenka; Kopecka; Uzana. 2022), marketing strategy in the field of tourism (Kim & Yun, 2017; Lund, Cohen, & Scarles, 2018). Marketing, communication and tourism practitioners use the power of stories as a tool to interact, influence audiences, interlocutors. Previous research on stories and storytelling in relation to cultural heritage tourism destinations shows that tourism storytelling activities lead to topics related to several themes, namely: through stories as shared activities, interactivity between communication actors as a process of exchanging experiences related to the tourism trip they take. This is as in the article entitled Cultural heritage elements in tourism: A tier structure from a tripartite analytical framework (XiaojuanYu & HonggangXu, 2019) which develops a tripartite framework to gain a holistic and structural understanding of the elements of Cultural Heritage of tourism sites based on their position in cultural heritage, tourism production, and tourism consumption. The study was conducted at a tourist destination in Yueyang Tower, China. The results of the study show that there is an identified tier structure consisting of: the dominant element, the distinctive few, and the nebulous plenty. In this structure there is a process of assessing inherited values, transmission of national values ​​and thematization of local values. Second, previous research has shown that Storytelling about the history of a place functions as a promotional medium for tourist destinations. This can be seen in the article Storytelling about place: Tourism Marketing in the digital age. (Bassano et al., 2019). This article explains that storytelling is a tool to improve the reputation of an area that can increase economic development in the digital era. And third, through storytelling, it shows the existence of a certain ethnic identity, an example (Maragh & Simson, 2021) entitled Heritage tourism and ethnic identity: A deductive thematic analysis of Jamaican Maroons which examines the exploration of heritage tourism by examining tourism as a tool to promote ethnic identity and Maroon traditions in Jamaica.

In the study of communication, there is a narrative theory presented by Walter Fisher (1984) explaining about narrative in storytelling. Every aspect of one's life and others is related to one's character, motives and actions in storytelling. Humans are storytellers and there are considerations of values, emotions and aesthetics that form the basis of beliefs and behavior. Narratives can be verbal or nonverbal to make someone believe or not in certain ways. Even in abstract messages because they are embedded in stories presented by the storyteller to invite listeners/audiences to interpret meaning and provide value for life (Griffin, 2020: 299). Narrative theory in some literature is also called the narrative paradigm. This concept is built on five assumptions: 1) Humans are basically storytellers. 2) Humans make decisions based on good reasons, depending on the existing communication situation, the media used and the genre. 3) History, biography, culture and character determine why certain reasons are conveyed. 4) Narrative rationality is determined by narrative coherence and fidelity which focuses on the truth of the story. 5) The world is a collection of selected stories that constantly recreate life.

Kotalama Semarang is a heritage tourism destination in the city of Semarang, Central Java province, Indonesia, which is being actively promoted by the local government as a leading tourist destination. Kotalama Semarang is one of Indonesia's cultural heritage destinations with number 682/P/2020 and has a long history as a destination that is closely related to stories about the history of the world's spice route since the 15th century with Chinese merchant voyages to Semarang in the 17th century and through the port of Semarang became a world spice trade route, thus attracting Europeans to explore the world and enter the era of European imperialism in the Indonesian region. The city of Semarang was once controlled by the VOC (Vereenigde Oostindische Compagnie) around the 17th to early 20th centuries by the Dutch. Imperialism over Indonesia was continued by Japan for two years (1942-1945) until Indonesia declared its independence in 1945 (Yuliati, 2019; Adryamartanino & Ningsih, 2022). This long history makes Kotalama Semarang rich in past stories related to the cross-civilization of the world. The Kotalama Semarang area, with an area of ​​40 hectares, has a number of physical material remains in the form of ancient buildings with distinctive architecture, there are 245 cultural heritage buildings in this area even though it is in the tropics (Irawan & Finesso, 2020).

There are relics of modern civilization with the existence of banking office remains marking the existence of a modern banking system, consumer goods industry, railway transportation, telecommunications and others during the 18th-19th centuries. It is also told in several historical archive literature (Yuliati; Susilowati; Suliyati; 2020) that the Kotalama Semarang area is famous as an international trade area because it is close to Tanjung Mas Port which at that time was one of the 3 major ports on the island of Java (Tanjung Priok Port in Batavia,Jakarta), and Tanjung Perak Port in Surabaya (East Java) which is famous for its international trade cargo, because it was visited by traders from outside Indonesia, such as from Malay, Arab and Chinese and European in approximately the period 1500-1800 (Graaf, 1987)

Revitalization of the area was carried out by the Semarang city government in 2019, due to the revitalization of infrastructure improvements, the number of visits to the Kotalama Semarang destination has increased. In 2019 compared to 2018 there were 61 thousand tourists/year for foreign tourists, and 2.6 million for domestic tourists (Disporapar, Central Java Provincial Government, 2018-2019). In 2020, the number of tourist visits reached 1,191,682, in 2021 it decreased to 615,768 visitors (Final Report of Semarang City Tourism Market Analysis, 2023). Even in 2022-2024, the number of visits to Kotalama Semarang surpassed the Borobudur Area which is a super priority destination for the Indonesian Government, reaching more than 289 thousand (Wibisono, 2022; https://pariwisata.semarangkota.go.id/frontend/web/index.php?r=site%2Fberita-details&id=47).

2.     Methods of Research

This study uses a qualitative method that views that reality is formed socially, based on a value-laden research process to find answers to problems related to social experience and the meaning of an action (Denzin & Lincoln, 2009). Data collection from recordings of storytelling and interviews with 8 guides met at the destination location during the period 2023-2024 who have representation, namely local residents, guides with cultural backgrounds, tourism agencies, official guides from the government in museums and representatives of government tourism institutions, various regulators and heads of guide organizations. Data collection is also supported by relevant historical reference books. Researchers also conducted participant observation as tourist visitors. The units of analysis observed were the content of the story, the structure of the story, the angle of the story. Then an analysis was carried out based on the concept of Walter Fisher's narrative paradigm study (Fisher, 1984). Narrative analysis is carried out to understand the culture and social context surrounding a text, referring to an integrative analysis and conceptually used to find, identify, process and analyze documents to understand their meaning, significance and relevance (Bungin, 2001). Narrative analysis is included in the group of empirical methods aimed at qualitative analysis (Cresswell, 2019) of textual, visual, auditory and audiovisual communication (Rusnacova & Kopecka, 2022) followed by the process of drawing conclusions with source triangulation.

3.     Results and Discussion

Description related to the background of the guide as a storyteller, first: representatives of local guides of Kotalama Semarang who are members of a community called Dutakola Semarang. This community consists of people who live and live in the Kotalama Semarang area and work in the Kotalama Semarang area every day and have a concern for tourism. This group uses Instagram, WhatsApp, Facebook and provides tourism services with walking tours, using antique pedicabs or motorbikes to tell stories with tourists. The point of view of the story entitled "Kotalama Semarang is a Modern City in Its Time" briefly tells about the grandeur and uniqueness of the popular cultural heritage buildings in Kotalama Semarang, each of which has its own uniqueness, both in terms of architectural uniqueness, use of building materials, to the history of the function of the building in its time. It is said that there are various facilities and uniqueness about buildings in the 1800s, such as the availability of a three-story building with elevator facilities in the building which is now used as the Jiwasraya insurance office; then there is the RNI building, a building full of wide marble materials for walls and floors so that the building feels cool without having to have air conditioning even in the tropics. The restaurant building which used to be the former office of the NV Kian Gwan Sugar business, apparently already had a large Iron Safe for storing archives and money at that time.

The second group of informants are members of the cultural community in the old city of Semarang, taking the angle of storytelling about the old city of Semarang and the success story of the Asian Sugar King Oie Tiong Ham. This second story tells of a businessman named Oie Ting Ham who controlled his sugar business from the old city of Semarang until it was known internationally (the Asian continent and part of Europe). The old city of Semarang was initially used as a place of business and residence for Dutch citizens and European citizens who lived in the Semarang city area in the 17th-19th centuries (1866-1924), but the figure of Oie Tiong Ham who was of Chinese descent was able to penetrate that and occupy five buildings in the old city of Semarang which were used to control his business. The five buildings functioned as head offices, banking services, industrial machinery trading, and sugar brokerage companies. These buildings are located one block away on Jalan Kepodang or Hoogendorp Straat, such as the NV Handel Maatschappij Kian Gwan building which is now a restaurant called ‘Pringsewu”, the NV Kian Gwan building or now the PT Rajawali Nusindo building, the banking building which is now used for Heroes caffe, the Soesman Kantoor building for the employee or factory worker management office, the Monod Dephuis building as a warehouse office. This version of the story also tells the personal life of Oie Tiong Ham who was a descendant of a Chinese immigrant named Oie Tjie Sien who moved to Indonesia because he fled from China when there was domestic turmoil in China and then traded by establishing a sugar factory called Kian Gwan. Sugar was a leading commodity of the Archipelago (Indonesia) in the period 1800-1930 when the spice business from Banda Naira Island in Maluku declined. Sugar became the world's most important natural processed product at that time. After inheriting his father's business, the figure of Oei Ting Ham was able to spread his wings to be famous in the Asian region and even had representative offices in Hong Kong, London and New York with the head office in Semarang. Even by the newspaper de locomotief as the largest newspaper at that time in Semarang, this figure was known as "the richest person between Shanghai and Australia".

The third group of informants was tour guides from a commercial tourism agency called "Bersukaria." This agency focuses on tourist visitors who like walking tours with a travel time of approximately 2-3 hours walking around Kotalama Semarang. Every month this agency offers other routes through the media website, Instagram. The presentation of this group's story tells about Kotalama Semarang from the perspective of being the first residential and economic area of ​​the Dutch VOC in the city of Semarang. According to information from the guide, an area before becoming large must have been preceded by a residential area. The Kotalama Semarang area was originally a settlement for European citizens (mostly Dutch citizens). In its development, Kotalama Semarang became densely populated, developed and residential areas moved out of the Kotalama Semarang area, expanding towards the southern and western parts of Semarang. Which then made Kotalama Semarang the center of the economy and government because of its strategic location close to the port. Many business buildings were found such as shipping offices (Pelni) for selling ship tickets, newspaper offices (de locomotief), banking offices, warehouses and so on. The last tour guide informant from the Semarang Old Town Museum group is a museum managed by the Semarang city government located in the area. The informant in this group carries a story about the history of Semarang Old Town which is divided into three terms related to the establishment of the fort that surrounds the area, namely the fort named Vijfhoek. The informant explained that the Semarang Old Town area is an exclusive area inhabited by Dutch and European citizens as immigrants and associated with the colonizers, so as a form of security a fort was built that surrounded the area. The fort is called the Vijfhoek fort in the shape of a pentagon. The construction of this fort was to distinguish the division of other areas/blocks that were deliberately built in the area around Semarang Old Town with other ethnic groups such as the Chinese ethnic group (Chinatown), Malay ethnic group, Arab ethnic group (Pekojan) and the original Indonesian ethnic group (Pribumi). The selection of storytelling terminology by looking at the side of the Vijfhoek fort in Semarang Old Town is a provision that has been decided by the regional government of Semarang City Tourism, after conducting discussions, archive searches and experts in their fields.

3.1. Point of View of Story Presentation

Based on the results of the story presentation, it can be clustered that there are four types of story variations that emerge, namely: stories that take the point of view of Kotalama Semarang as a cultural heritage area with the advantages and technology of historic buildings; second about the success story of the world-famous sugar entrepreneur Oie Tiong Ham; third, areas that have stories in economic progress in the 18th-20th centuries, and fourth, story presentations with a focus on the chronology of stories about the area of ​​control during the imperialist era. There is a red line of connection between the story's points of view, namely as a heritage tourism area, Kotalama Semarang is an exclusive area formed due to the role of the Dutch VOC (Vereenigde Oostindische Compagnie) in Indonesia in the past. The connection between stories so that they cannot be separated from the historical story of the area. Based on the processing of interview results with informants and stakeholders, it shows that: 1) There is evidence in the form of physical artifacts of buildings and site plans for the area, such as roads, blocks of historical heritage buildings with typical subtropical architecture like the European area in Kotalama. 2) The length of time when the VOC (Dutch East Indies Government) was in Kotalama Semarang. Recorded from 1705 to 1942 when Indonesia was controlled by Japan. The span of 237 years or more than 2 centuries, it is not surprising that the artifacts left behind by VOC imperialism (the Dutch East Indies government) are still quite numerous and quite attached. In addition to building structures, evidence of the development of civilization is also found such as the publication of the newspaper "de locomotief", notes - evidence of trade records, banking systems. The findings made by Balar Yogyakarta (National Research and Innovation Agency, Regional Archaeology Office) in the past, the storytelling by the guide can be seen in different time periods.

The span of time under foreign control is longer than the period when the city of Semarang was under the control of ancient Indonesian kingdoms in 1475-1704. There are limitations in the number of physical relics during the Indonesian kingdom period due to the limited understanding of reading and writing of the people in the past.

The variation of story perspectives according to the recognition of government stakeholders and area managers is used as part of the marketing strategy for the type of heritage tourism in organizing stories that can be clustered with the angle of the time period of the shooting, certain themes so that there are many variations in story presentation that can increase the sustainability of visits in this area without eliminating the existing historical value.

Table 1.1: Time Periods of the Story that Influence the Point of View of the Story

Source: Processing research data from several sources

Based on table 1.1, it shows the different perspectives of presenting stories about Kotalama Semarang, based on the long historical span of its existence. So that the fragments of periodization give birth to their own stories. Tour guides, stakeholders, historians are aware of the existence of artifacts in the form of physical structures of historical buildings, supported by archives, so this becomes the capital source of stories that can be narrated from various perspectives by the storyteller. Through the stories presented, the storyteller wants to create an affective 'atmosphere of commemoration' about past phenomena to visitors as part of present-day learning and various interests.

3.2. Storytelling Structure Patterns and the Guide as a Storyteller

In practice, the presentation of stories about Kotalama Semarang carried out by guides is based on the concept of narrative, the guide uses a pattern like a storyteller who has a story structure. The structure technically includes the opening of the story (prologue), the main material of the story and the closing (epilogue). The prologue is useful for building the story and inviting the listener to enter the main door of the story before entering the core of the story. The prologue is the initial part of the narrative that can also be found in writing drama, music, theater or literary works. The prologue functions to provide context such as the background of the story to be revealed, historical information, a picture of the world to be told and relevant social context, introducing the main characters or themes, building enthusiasm and interest of the audience, making a strong first impression. The core of the story is the center of the material to be told, giving rise to the process of the story's turmoil, explaining the reasons behind a character in the story, conflicts that may arise and the part that tells about the main narrative that wants to be conveyed through the story and the epilogue is the end of the story which usually conveys the conclusion and closing of the story. (Katerynych, Petro; Goian, Vita; Goian, Oles (2023). This story structure is important to have because storytelling is an interactive art in using words and actions to express the elements and images of a story while encouraging the listener's imagination.

Table 1.2: Chronology of the Presentation Structure of the Story of the Kotalama ​​Semarang

Source: Processing research data from several sources

Based on the information in table 1.2 above, the storytelling process shows that the guide as a communicator, practices storytelling activities that try to build the listener's imagination through the structure of the storyline that is delivered starting from the prologue, core and end (epilogue). The story structure shows a forward flow pattern, based on time sequence. The informant uses supporting tools such as building photos and videos and sound to build the audience's imagination about Semarang's old town in the past. The choice of story words uses the official formal Indonesian language and interspersed informal or local languages ​​adjusted to the audience being brought.

3.3. Presentation of Stories Based on Audience Situations

In the narrative paradigm theory, Walter Fisher said that humans make decisions based on good reasons, depending on the audience situation. Some basic considerations of storytellers in presenting stories are due to their background in mastering stories, experiences, audience situations and the use of storytelling media.

Consideration of story presentation with different points of view considers audience situations such as motivation, duration of visit, number of visitors (private or group). The presentation of the story becomes more detailed regarding the information and structure depending on the choice of tour package, regular or private tour. The average age of visitors influences the choice of language used. Formal language will be used by guides when bringing groups of government guests or official situations, while informal language is usually used for young visitors such as groups of school children to college students. The selection of contemporary urban legend stories that are developing in society is also often added for this age group to make the story more interesting.

3.4. The Story has Coherence with History, is Interconnected

The practice of telling stories about Kotalama Semarang, although it has different angles in the storytelling, there is a connection between one story and another, namely as a former area of ​​Dutch and European VOC imperialism in Semarang and Indonesia in the 16th-20th centuries. This cannot be separated from the long history of the existence of the Indonesian state, which is based on historical archives and historians' accounts that for 3.5 centuries until Indonesia's independence in 1945 was a former imperialist country of other countries.

In the story production section, it was found that the story conveyed to tourists was the result of joint verification from various stakeholders such as the local government as the manager of the area, historians, tourism industry groups, and guide organizations. The existence of a certain level of certification exam as a guide is also important regarding the ability to present heritage stories in the context of oral communication. Trusted historical reference archives of the old city of Semarang, such as the use of the old city archives at KITLV, Leiden in the Netherlands, are also very helpful in the message production process (Budiman, 1973; Tio, 2007, Yuliati 2020).

The practice of telling stories about the existence of the old city of Semarang is closely related to the background atmosphere of the area formerly formed by the Dutch VOC, so it is not surprising that the background of the story reveals a lot from the side of the grandeur of the building, city planning, infrastructure, modern economic system during the Dutch VOC era. This data is based on information from historical archives that the VOC-Dutch was in Semarang since 1678 according to the agreement between King Amangkurat II and the Dutch (Heeres, Stapel (Ed, 1677-1680 in Yuliati 2020) until 1942 when Indonesia changed to the Japanese occupation. In a period of more than 3 centuries, it is not surprising that an area will experience many changes and developments. The results of government informants, historians, and literature evidence that written sources are mostly found in Dutch before being rewritten into Indonesian by several historical writers from the 1970s to 2020. During the Japanese occupation, the archives were limited only from 1943-1945. This is in line with the 3rd concept in Fisher's narrative paradigm which states that the formation of certain message productions with variations in storytelling shows how the use of carefully thought-out considerations by tour guides is associated with historical, biographical, cultural and shared character factors (Fisher, 1984).

3.5. Presentation of Stories Requires Narrative Rationality Constructed by Stakeholders

The presentation of the story needs to pay attention to the suitability, truth and logic of the story from several reasonable sources. For stories related to Kotalama Semarang, the story is the result of construction from relevant stakeholders such as historians, academics, and the government based on available archival sources. This is related to preservation efforts as a cultural heritage destination. The local government of Semarang City initiated various meetings with related experts such as historians, cultural figures, academics who understand history, urban planning experts and tourism actors to hold discussions related to stories about the revitalization of the area in 2016-2019. The main story about Kotalama Semarang was made into a book. This book is a guidebook for tourist locations to be delivered to visitors.

Narrative rationality is a way to evaluate the value of a story based on two standards called narrative coherence and narrative fidelity (Fisher, 1984). Narrative coherence is related to how likely the story is to be heard by the audience, whether the narrative supports each other, how the characters and events are related to each other to be told. Related to this, the data findings explain that the story about the history of Kotalama Semarang, although it has various points of view, has a story that is broadly the same and interrelated. The emergence of popular figures such as Oie Tiong Ham is part of the organic background of the story. This can be seen from the confirmation of the stories of historians, cultural figures, and through digital media on websites, reference books, the stories are more or less the same and there is a common thread.

Walter Fisher (1984) in narrative theory: how to test narrative coherence with steps: first, is there a contradiction in the story that is built (internal consistency of the story). The sense of narrative coherence is strengthened by the adaptation of the storyteller to the audience. For example, adjusting the use of language and the situation of the audience. The guide in the Kotalama Semarang area fulfills this. Second; in testing narrative coherence, the presentation of the story will be unified if the storyteller does not ignore important details of the story, does not falsify facts, or does not ignore other reasonable interpretations. To test this can be done by comparing it with other existing stories, themes that are almost the same. From the four points of view of the story, it shows that there is continuity between stories. Meanwhile, narrative videlity is the quality of a story that causes the words brought to the story to touch a responsive tone for the audience, containing human values. In the four points of view, the story has values ​​that present the glory of the economy and trade of Kotalama Semarang in its time. This is understandable considering the long history of the old city of Semarang, long before the era of imperialism, it had become a world spice trade route, so that the city of Semarang interacted with other nations to trade, such as descendants of Malays, Indians and Arabs who traded as far as the island of Java.

3.6.  Presentation Awareness to Create Sustainability as a Cultural Heritage Tourism Destination

The story of Kotalama Semarang is a collection of experiences from various stakeholders such as historians, communities, government, tourism actors in preserving cultural heritage tourism destinations. The existence of the Kotalama Semarang Area will continue to exist if the stories about this area are always communicated and continue to exist to benefit from the existence of this area, so if it is maintained, the Kotalama Semarang Area will continue to exist.

4. Conclusion 

The results of the study showed that there were four story perspectives conveyed by tour guides in presenting stories about Kotalama Semarang. The four storytelling perspectives are the heritage area with the advantages and technology of historic building structures, the success story of the world-famous sugar entrepreneur Oie Tiong Ham, the area with stories about economic progress in the 18th-20th centuries, and the chronology of the story about the area of ​​control during the imperialist era. From a number of storytelling perspectives that emerged, all four were related to the story about the Dutch VOC occupation of Indonesia. This finding resulted in the presentation of messages in the realm of communication in the concept of the narrative paradigm, namely 1) Guides in practice carry out storytelling activities directly to visitors, this shows that humans are storytellers. 2) Humans make decisions based on reasons for consideration depending on the communication situation. Guides have reasons related to background, experience, audience and mastery of story sources in presenting stories. 3). Guides present the interconnectedness between stories. 4). Narrative Rationale is determined by the coherence and fidelity of the narrative constructed by a group of entities such as historians, academics, government and historical sources who have high concerns regarding the truth of the destination story. 5) The existence of stories about Kotalama Semarang in the field of tourism is a collection of stories that are deliberately created in order to recreate the sustainability of heritage tourism destinations in Kotalama Semarang.

Author Contributions: All Authors contributed to this research

Funding: No external funding received.

Conflict of Interest: The authors declare no conflict of interest