Saputra, I.G.G. dan Suta, P.W.P. / JDG Vol. 15 No. 02 (2025) 258-263
ISSN 2303- 0089

e-ISSN 2656-9949

DINAMIKA GOVERNANCE
JURNAL ILMU ADMINISTRASI NEGARA
http://ejournal.upnjatim.ac.id/index.php/jdg/index

GOVERNANCE OF EXPERIENCE-BASED TOURISM NARRATIVES: REPRESENTATION OF
NUSA PENIDA TOURISM PRODUCTS IN DIGITAL MARKETPLACES
I Gede Gian Saputra1, Putu Wira Parama Suta 2
1,2,
Program Studi Sarjana Pariwisata Fakultas Pariwisata Universitas Udayana
*
Email Corresponding: igedegiansaputra@unud.ac.id

ARTICLE

INFORMATION

Article history:
Received date: 4 Juli 2025
Revised date: 11 Juli 2025
Accepted date: 16 Juli 2025

ABSTRACT
The rise of digital platforms has transformed the governance of tourism narratives,
particularly in experience-based tourism where storytelling, visuals, and platform
algorithms shape destination representation. This study investigates the governance
dynamics behind digital representations of tourism products in Nusa Penida, Bali,
across five major marketplace platforms: Klook, Viator, GetYourGuide, Traveloka
Experience, and Airbnb Experience. Using qualitative digital observation and content
analysis of 450 tourism experiences, the study identifies a dominant trend of narrative
and visual homogenization, limited community involvement, and minimal integration of
sustainability principles. These patterns are driven by platform-curated algorithms and
commercial imperatives that marginalize local voices and reduce diverse cultural
contexts into standardized visual products. Drawing on frameworks of collaborative
and algorithmic governance (Ansell & Gash, 2008; Zuboff, 2019), the study highlights
power asymmetries between global platforms and local tourism actors, revealing a
regulatory gap in digital tourism content management. The findings underscore the
need for inclusive, participatory governance mechanisms that enable ethical, contextsensitive representation of tourism destinations in the platform economy.
Keyword: digital governance; platformization; experience-based tourism; narrative
representation; Nusa Penida

INTRODUCTION
The global tourism industry has undergone a
significant shift with the rise of digital platforms
that mediate not only bookings and transactions but
also how destinations are narrated, visualized, and
experienced. This transformation is especially
pronounced in the experience-based tourism sector,
where tourist consumption is shaped less by
infrastructure and more by curated narratives and
visual representations that promise cultural
immersion and personal transformation (Pine &
Gilmore, 1999; Oh, Fiore, & Jeoung, 2007). In this
context, the governance of tourism narratives—

particularly how they are produced, curated, and
circulated online—has become a crucial dimension
of destination management, with implications for
cultural authenticity, sustainability, and equity.
A growing body of literature has addressed
the implications of digital tourism platforms for
market dynamics and consumer behavior (Xiang et
al., 2015; Buhalis & Law, 2008). Recent studies
have drawn attention to the role of algorithms and
commercial logic in shaping visibility and
desirability of tourism products (Zuboff, 2019; Ert
& Fleischer, 2019), often leading to homogenized
representations and exclusion of local perspectives
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(Farmaki & Kaniadakis, 2020). Moreover, the
platformization of tourism—where global digital
intermediaries structure the flow of information,
bookings, and user-generated content—has raised
concerns about asymmetric power relations between
corporate actors and local tourism stakeholders
(Gretzel et al., 2020; Zajácz, 2021).
Despite these insights, there remains limited
research that explicitly connects platform-based
representation practices with the concept of
governance, particularly in terms of content control,
narrative legitimacy, and community voice. Much
of the existing work focuses on user behavior or
marketing strategies rather than exploring the
systemic governance mechanisms (or lack thereof)
that determine which narratives are amplified and
which are suppressed. Furthermore, there is a
scarcity of empirical studies that analyze how
different platforms construct and differentiate
representations of the same destination, and how
this affects the sustainability and inclusivity of
tourism development at the local level.
This article addresses that gap by
investigating how experience-based tourism
products in Nusa Penida, Bali, are represented on
five global and regional digital marketplace
platforms: Klook, Viator, GetYourGuide, Traveloka
Experience, and Airbnb Experience. The study
focuses on how narratives are curated, whose voices
are amplified, and what governance mechanisms—
implicit or explicit—are at play in shaping digital
destination discourse. The novelty of this research
lies in framing digital tourism representation as a
governance issue, rather than merely a marketing or
design challenge. By bridging literature on platform
governance (Ansell & Gash, 2008; Zuboff, 2019)
with tourism narrative studies, this article
contributes to a more nuanced understanding of how
digital power structures shape cultural visibility and
destination equity in the Global South.
The research is guided by the following
questions: (1) What types of experience-based
tourism activities are promoted in Nusa Penida’s
digital marketplaces? (2) How are these products
narrated and visualized across different platforms?
(3) To what extent do the representations
incorporate local cultural values and sustainability
principles? (4) What governance challenges arise

from the dominance of global platforms in shaping
tourism narratives?
Accordingly, the main objective of this
article is to analyze the governance of digital
tourism narratives in Nusa Penida by examining
how experience-based tourism products are curated,
represented, and differentiated across multiple
marketplace platforms. Through this lens, the study
aims to offer empirical insights and normative
reflections on the need for inclusive, contextsensitive, and ethically governed tourism
representation in the era of platform capitalism.

RESEARCH METHODS
This study adopts a qualitative exploratory
research design to examine how experience-based
tourism products in Nusa Penida are represented on
major digital marketplace platforms, and how these
representations reflect underlying patterns of
narrative governance. The qualitative approach is
chosen to allow for an in-depth interpretive analysis
of the content, structure, and thematic nuances of
digital tourism offerings, which cannot be
adequately captured through quantitative metrics
alone.
Data were collected through digital
observation of five leading tourism marketplace
platforms: Klook, Viator, GetYourGuide, Traveloka
Experience, and Airbnb Experience. These
platforms were selected based on their popularity
among international and regional travelers, their
active listings in Nusa Penida, and their contrasting
business models—ranging from large-scale
corporate aggregators to host-driven platforms. The
observation was conducted between March and
April 2025, during which a total of 450 tourism
activities were identified and cataloged.
The primary data sources consist of publicly
accessible content on the selected platforms,
including activity titles, descriptions, promotional
narratives, visual imagery, and available metadata
(e.g., duration, pricing, location, service provider).
To ensure compliance with ethical research
practices, only content available without user login
or purchase was collected, using a combination of
manual browsing and automated web-scraping tools
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such as BeautifulSoup. Activities were included
based on three selection criteria: (1) they are located
within the administrative area of Nusa Penida, (2)
they involve direct tourist participation (e.g.,
workshops, guided tours, cultural immersion), and
(3) they are framed as experiential offerings rather
than transactional or purely logistical services.
To analyze the data, a thematic content
analysis was conducted, comprising several iterative
steps. First, duplicate entries and irrelevant listings
were removed through data reduction. Second, open
coding was applied to extract recurring narrative
elements, keywords, and visual motifs from the
promotional content. Third, the coded data were
organized into thematic categories such as cultural
tourism,
adventure,
wellness,
nature-based
activities, and culinary experiences. Fourth, interplatform comparisons were carried out to identify
narrative patterns, visual strategies, and indicators
of local engagement or sustainability. Particular
attention was paid to the use of storytelling devices,
cultural references, and algorithm-friendly language
such as “hidden gems,” “authentic experience,” or
“Instagram-worthy.”
To enhance the credibility of the analysis,
data triangulation was performed by crossreferencing platform narratives with external
sources such as tourism statistics from the
Klungkung Tourism Office, peer-reviewed literature
on Nusa Penida, and user-generated content (e.g.,
reviews, blogs). In addition, keyword-matching
techniques were employed to identify semantic
clusters within the dataset, while reflexive
interpretation guided the synthesis of empirical
patterns with theoretical constructs from governance
and tourism studies.
Overall, this methodological framework
enables a contextualized understanding of how
digital platforms function as gatekeepers of tourism
narratives, and how their curation practices reflect
broader issues of power, participation, and
representational justice in destination governance.
RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
The results of this study provide a multidimensional analysis of how experience-based
tourism in Nusa Penida is represented across five

major digital marketplace platforms. By examining
the types of activities promoted, the language and
imagery used, the presence (or absence) of local and
sustainability values, and the platform-specific
governance dynamics, this section highlights how
digital platforms play a critical role in shaping not
only tourist expectations but also the symbolic
construction of the destination itself. These findings
are organized thematically to address the core
research questions and to unpack the governance
implications of narrative control, content
asymmetry, and representational justice in platformmediated tourism.
This section presents the main findings of
the study and discusses them in relation to the four
research questions:
(1) What types of experience-based tourism
activities are promoted in Nusa Penida’s digital
marketplaces?
(2) How are these products narrated and visualized
across different platforms?
(3) To what extent do the representations
incorporate local cultural values and sustainability
principles?
(4) What governance challenges arise from the
dominance of global platforms in shaping tourism
narratives?
1. Categorization of Tourism Activities in Digital
Marketplaces
From the 450 tourism products analyzed, the
five most frequent activity categories were: waterbased adventure (41.3%), cultural tourism (15.7%),
nature exploration (13.1%), photography and socialmedia-oriented tours (11.6%), and culinary/creative
workshops (8.4%). The remaining 9.9% were
mixed-category tours.
Water-based activities such as snorkeling,
diving, and boat trips dominated the listings,
particularly on GetYourGuide (80 listings) and
Viator (62 listings), indicating a commercial
prioritization of visually appealing marine
landscapes. Cultural tourism products, including
temple visits and village experiences, appeared in
only 71 listings—primarily on Airbnb Experience
and Traveloka. This distribution reveals that highvisibility products tend to favor visuality over
260

cultural depth, aligning with earlier studies on
commodified tourist gaze (Urry & Larsen, 2011).
2. Narrative Structures and Platform-Specific
Framing
Analysis of promotional text revealed that
87% of products used emotionally evocative, visualcentered language such as “breathtaking,”
“authentic,” “hidden paradise,” and “Instagramworthy.” These descriptors were especially
concentrated on Viator and Klook, which adopt a
commercial tone optimized for rapid consumption.
Airbnb Experience was the only platform where
narratives included host voices and local stories,
such as “learn to cook with a Balinese family” or
“join our seaweed farming community.”
These differences reflect platform-specific
governance mechanisms. While Klook and Viator
act as algorithm-driven content brokers, Airbnb
enables peer-to-peer narrative autonomy. This
distinction is significant in digital governance, as it
reveals who has control over the production and
dissemination of destination meaning—corporate
curators or local storytellers (Zuboff, 2019; Salazar,
2012).
3. Visual Representation and Inclusion of Local
and Sustainability Values
Visual analysis of promotional images
showed that 79% of listings used wide-angle
landscape shots with minimal human presence.
Coastal cliffs (e.g., Kelingking Beach), dramatic
waves, and aerial photography were dominant.
Activities involving people—particularly local hosts
or cultural interaction—comprised only 11% of
image content and were almost entirely confined to
Airbnb Experience.
These visual patterns support previous
critiques (Farmaki & Kaniadakis, 2020) that digital
platforms prioritize aesthetic value over sociocultural context. In governance terms, this reflects a
lack of representational equity where community
narratives are marginalized in favor of algorithmfriendly visuals.
Only 14% (63 out of 450) of listings
explicitly referenced sustainability, community
participation, or local empowerment. Of these, 43

were on Airbnb Experience, 14 on Traveloka, and
the remaining six were scattered across
GetYourGuide and Viator. Common sustainability
claims included “eco-friendly,” “support local,” or
“organic lunch,” but most lacked transparency or
detail about implementation—raising the risk of
greenwashing (Delmas & Burbano, 2011).
Meanwhile, none of the platforms provided
ethical labeling or sustainability verification
mechanisms. This absence reveals a regulatory
blind spot in digital tourism governance where
sustainability is optional, unstandardized, and
subject to market discretion.
4. Platform Power and Governance Gaps
The comparative data also indicate stark
disparities in listing quantity: GetYourGuide had
234 listings, Viator 136, Traveloka 148, Klook 76,
and Airbnb Experience 58. The two largest
platforms accounted for over 70% of all listings—
suggesting a concentration of narrative influence.
These findings point to significant
governance challenges. In the absence of public
policy frameworks or participatory mechanisms for
content curation, digital platforms act as de facto
governors of tourism narratives. The prioritization
of engagement metrics (clicks, bookings) over
ethical or cultural value further exacerbates power
imbalances and undermines local agency.
As theorized by Ansell and Gash (2008),
collaborative governance requires inclusion, trust,
and shared authority. Yet, in the current digital
ecosystem, platform operators monopolize control
while local actors have limited voice and visibility
CONCLUSION
This study set out to investigate how
experience-based tourism products in Nusa Penida
are represented across digital marketplace
platforms, and how such representations reflect
deeper dynamics of narrative governance. The
findings confirm that digital platforms act as
dominant narrative curators, shaping destination
imagery
through
algorithm-driven
content
strategies. This process results in the predominance
of aesthetic-oriented, standardized offerings, with
261

limited inclusion of local cultural values,
community narratives, or sustainability principles.
These patterns highlight an important governance
gap,
where
narrative
authority
lies
disproportionately in the hands of global platforms
rather than local stakeholders.
From a governance perspective, the study
reveals that content curation on digital platforms is
not merely a technical or marketing issue, but a
matter of representational justice. The lack of
participatory mechanisms, ethical labeling, or
community-based visibility frameworks reflects the
absence of formal regulation in the digital tourism
ecosystem. Addressing this issue requires rethinking
destination governance to include the symbolic and
cultural dimensions of how places are digitally
constructed and consumed.
Suggestions:
Based
on
these
findings,
several
recommendations can be made for future action and
research:
1. Policy Development: Regional tourism
authorities should collaborate with platform
operators to co-develop ethical content guidelines
that promote the visibility of local culture,
sustainability, and community-led experiences.
2. Capacity Building: Local tourism actors
in Nusa Penida and similar destinations need
targeted support to improve digital storytelling
skills, content production, and algorithm-friendly
visibility strategies.
3. Participatory Governance Models: Multistakeholder platforms should be established at the
destination level to allow communities, SMEs, and
public agencies to engage in curating and reviewing
digital content representing their localities.
4. Further Research: Future studies should
integrate user perspectives (tourists and hosts) to
assess how digital representations influence travel
behavior and local identity. Longitudinal and
comparative studies between destinations would
also help in understanding how governance
frameworks evolve under different regulatory
environments. By strengthening governance over
digital narratives, destinations can reclaim agency in
how they are represented globally, ensuring that
tourism
development
remains
not
only

economically viable but also culturally just and
socially inclusive.

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