DESIGNING ENGLISH TOURIST NAVIGATION WEBSITE TO PROMOTE BENGKALIS TOURISM

Abstract

This study aims to design an English tourist navigation website to promote the tourism of Bengkalis Regency. The research employed the Research and Development (R&D) method using the Borg and Gall model, which consists of six main stages: research planning, product development, expert validation, field testing, product revision, and implementation. The website was built using the Laravel framework, a popular PHP-based web application framework, and integrated with Google Maps API to support real-time location-based services. The development began with designing a relational database for managing destination data, including names, descriptions, locations, photos, and categories. The website was designed to provide international tourists with detailed information about 25 tourist destinations. Data collection involved questionnaires, interviews, and documentation with stakeholders and prospective users. The research results showed that most users thought the website was useful at establishing Bengkalis tourism more accessible and offering English-language information. The improvements were made to features like the user interface, content clarity, and navigation guidance based on input from both users. Overall, the final product received positive responses and was considered a useful promotional media for enhancing the visibility and accessibility of Bengkalis tourist destinations to international audiences.