Rebranding Ubud as a Healing Holy Village

I Gede Sutarya

Abstract


As a center for dance and painting, Ubud village in Bali is a sought-after cultural destination for tourists. Cultural village destinations compete with other attraction centers in the global tourism market. In the 2000s, Ubud presented various healing activities, which have grown rapidly until 2022. Therefore, this study aims to analyze the rebranding of Ubud into a healing holy village. Cultural circuit and branding theories explain this based on qualitative research from 2016 to 2022. Data were collected through literature study, observation, and interviews. This has given Ubud its mythical status as a holy village for healing. Myths and meanings support the rebranding of a holy village. It was developed because of the therapeutic tourism actors that continue to investigate the uniqueness and diversity of Ubud. Furthermore, it has received support from various spiritual and healing activities. As a means of healing, Ubud’s holy village becomes a powerful brand.


Keywords


Rebranding, Destination, Healing Holy Village

References


Aggarwal, A., Guglani, M., & Goel, R. (2008). Spiritual & Yoga Tourism: A casestudy on experience of Foreign Tourists visiting Rishikesh, India. Conference in Tourism in India-Challenges Ahead. http://dspace.iimk.ac.in/handle/2259/588.

Bansal, S. P., & Gangotia, A. (2010). Perception of Tourist : A case study of Uttrakhand. International Journal of Hospitality & Tourism Systems, 3(1), 55–63.

Bhavanani, A. (2017). Yoga in Contemporary India: an Overview. Yoga Life, 48, 1–15.

Bungin, Burhan. (2015). Komunikasi Pariwisata. Jakarta: Prenada Media.

Champ, J. G. (2008). Horizontal Power, Vertical Weakness: Enhancing the “Circuit of Culture.” Popular Communication, 6(2), 85–102. https://doi.org/10.1080/15405700801977426.

Chhabra, D. (2013). The diaspora market and homeland representations: Implications for niche marketing. Tourism Analysis, 18(3), 259–271. https://doi.org/10.3727/108354213X13673398610619.

Farhan, S. L., & Nasar, Z. A. (2020). The social transformation of the historical city centre of Karbala Iraq. 15(2022), 293–307.

Gesler, W. (1996). Lourdes: Healing in a place of pilgrimage. Health and Place, 2(2), 95–105. https://doi.org/10.1016/1353-8292(96)00004-4.

Gilbert, E. (2006). Eat, Pray, Love. New York: Penguin Group.

Healy, J. P. (2016). Yearning to belong: Discovering a new religious movement. In Yearning to Belong: Discovering a New Religious Movement. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781315546094.

Hellman, J. (2019). Pilgrimage and Ancestors: The importance of return. International Journal of Religious Tourism and Pilgrimage, 7(4), 1–10.

Kartajaya, Herman and Bembi Dwi Indro M. (2009). Ubud, the Spirit of Bali. Jakarta: PT Gramedia Pustaka Utama.

Ketsuwan, P., Sareewas, T., Sirikhotchpun, S., & Sukkasem, T. (2021). Sustainability of Arts and Culture a Comparative Case Study of Cultural Village, Chiang Kham District, Phayao Province, Thailand and Luang Prabang, World Heritage City, Laos. Turkish Journal of Computer and Mathematics Education, 12(8), 3035–3042.

Maddox, C. B. (2015). Studying at the source: Ashtanga yoga tourism and the search for authenticity in Mysore, India. Journal of Tourism and Cultural Change, 13(4), 330–343. https://doi.org/10.1080/14766825.2014.972410.

Moira, P., Mylonopoulos, D., & Parasxi, A. (2019). Preserving traveller’s memory in religious destinations. International Journal of Religious Tourism and Pilgrimage, 7(2), 122–129.

Moulin-Stożek, D. (2019). Pilgrims’ play on the Santiago Way. In International Journal of Religious Tourism and Pilgrimage (Vol. 7, Issue 5, pp. 24–32).

Muhajirin. (2019). ‘Ziarah puyang’, pilgrimage to graves: A case study in South Sumatra. Pertanika Journal of Social Sciences and Humanities, 27(2), 1231–1240.

Muzellec, L., & Lambkin, M. (2006). Corporate rebranding: Destroying, transferring or creating brand equity? European Journal of Marketing, 40(7–8), 803–824. https://doi.org/10.1108/03090560610670007.

Obais, M. S., Lecturer, A., & Sciences, T. (2021). The impact of community tourism on the community of the holy city of karbala from the viewpoint of professors and students of the faculty of tourism sciences / karbala university. 20(4), 550–557. https://doi.org/10.17051/ilkonline.2021.04.59.

Pemprov Bali. (2020). Provinsi Bali dalam Angka. Denpasar: Pemprov Bali.

Picard, M. (2008). Balinese identity as tourist attraction: From ‘cultural tourism’ (pariwisata budaya) to ‘Bali erect’ (ajeg Bali). Tourist Studies. https://doi.org/10.1177/1468797608099246.

Rose, L. (2020). Nazareth village and the creation of the holy land in israel-palestine: The question of evangelical orthodoxy. Current Anthropology, 61(3), 335–355. https://doi.org/10.1086/708762.

Sutarya, I. G. (2016). SPIRITUAL HEALING DALAM PARIWISATA BALI: ANALISIS TENTANG KEUNIKAN, PENGEMBANGAN, DAN KONTRIBUSI DALAM PARIWISATA. Disertasi. Denpasar: Universitas Udayana.

Sutarya, I. G. (2020). International Journal of Religious Tourism and Pilgrimage The Potentials and Prospects of Yoga Pilgrimage Exploration in Bali Tourism. 8(8), 127–135.

Timothy, D. J., & Olsen, D. H. (2006). Tourism, religion and spiritual journeys. In Tourism, Religion and Spiritual Journeys. Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9780203001073.

Wiltshier, P. (2018). New age visitors and the tourism industry. International Journal of Religious Tourism and Pilgrimage, 6(3), 49–67.

Internet Sources

Four Season. (2022). Healing Art Practiticioner. https://www.fourseasons.com/sayan/spa/healing-arts-practitioners/. Accessed May, 12th, 2022.

Bali Spirit. (2022). Bali Spirit Festival. https://www.balispiritfestival.com/about-us/founders/. Accessed May, 13th, 2022.

Cakapane. (2020). Sejarah Kedatangan Rsi Markendya ke Bali. http://cakepane.blogspot.com/2012/12/sejarah-rsi-markadeya.html. Accesed May, 22nd, 2022.

Picture Sources

Turner, Nicole. (2022). Nicole Turner-Butler Facebook June 7, 2022.

Sutarya, I Gede. (2019). Unpublished.

Sumantra, Guru Made. (2019). Unpublished.




DOI: 10.15408/mimbar.v39i2.27759

Refbacks

  • There are currently no refbacks.


Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.