PUBLIC’S PERCEPTION AND PREFERENCE TOWARDS HALAL TOURISM

Halal tourism is a sector that has an important role in the economic development. For that, the main purpose of this study is to explore the perceptions and preferences of public towards halal tourism. It also aims to describe the level of importance performance of the halal tourism indicators in Semarang City and Kendal Regency. The design of this study was descriptive with quantitative approach. Data collection technique in this paper are randomly distributing questionnaires to 400 respondents. The halal tourism dimension is adapted from indicators applied by the Indonesian Muslim Travel Index. Then, the data analyzed by Gap Analysis and Importance Performance Analysis. The Result obtained that there are some indicators have low performance where as the level of influence is high, some indicators with level of influence followed by good performance, some indicators that have low level of influence and the performance is not good, and the indicators that the influence level is low but its performance is good.


INTRODUCTION
Tourism is a sector that has an important role in the economic development of many countries in the world. Tourism has become part of the needs and lifestyles for today's society as a result of the progress of times and increased welfare. This encourages people to get to know nature and culture in other countries, which indirectly will affect the development of the tourism service industry which contributes to the economy, be it at the local and world level.
One of the growing tourism industries today is the halal tourism industry. This industry has been popular since 2016, where according to UNWTO Muslim travelers are the owners of the world's largest expenditures in the tourism industry sector. The total expenditure amounted to US $ 120 billion in 2015. This development also had an impact on Indonesia being selected by the (Global Muslim Travel Index (GMTI) to become one of the most popular halal tourist destinations in the world in 2016 and was ranked second. Indonesia also ranked fourth. as a country with the largest Muslim tourists with expenses reaching US $ 9.7 billion with a total of 200 million domestic tourists (Sari et al., 2019).
Halal tourism in Indonesia has been growing very rapidly lately. This can be proven by the entry of Indonesia as a member of the OIC (Organization of the Islamic Conference) on the list of the Top Ten Best Muslim World Travel Destinations in 2019 and Indonesia ranks first along with Malaysia, up from position 2 in 2018. The score obtained was quite high, namely 78 points. Even so, Indonesia still has to improve various aspects to maintain its position as the world's best Muslim tourist destination in the following years. The list of Top 10 OIC Muslim Travel Destinations can be seen in the following table 1.
The Indonesian government has synergized with various parties to realize the development of halal tourism, such as cooperation between the Ministry of Tourism of the National Sharia Council (DSN), the Indonesian Ulema Council (MUI) and the Business Certification Institute (LSU). The form of this collaboration is to develop tourism and promote Islamic sharia culture and values which are then outlined in the Regulation of the Minister of Tourism and Creative Economy (Jaelani, 2017). In addition, various trainings for human resources, outreach and capacity building were also conducted. In fact, the government is also collaborating with the Indonesian Hotel and Restaurant Association (PHRI) for the development of halal lodging and dining places that provide halal food and beverage menus. In addition, the collaboration with the Association of the Indonesia Tours and Travel (ASITA) to make tour packages to religious tourism spots, although halal tourism is not only limited to religious tourism (Kemenparekraf, 2015).
However, the efforts made by the government in developing halal tourism in Indonesia are not in line with public knowledge about sharia tourism and halal tourism. Based on research conducted by Pratiwi (2016) on the Analysis of the Islamic Tourism Market in Yogyakarta, it shows that 36% of respondents feel very unaware of the concept of sharia tourism, 35% of respondents who feel a little understanding of the concept of sharia tourism, and 25% understand the concept of Islamic tourism However, the respondents could not differentiate between religious tourism and sharia tourism. This is a little description of the state of public understanding of sharia tourism. In 2015, the Ministry of Tourism confirmed that there were 13 provinces that were ready as halal tourism destinations, namely West Nusa Tenggara (NTB), Nangroe Aceh Darussalam, West Sumatra, Riau, Lampung, Banten, DKI Jakarta, West Java, Central Java, Yogyakarta, Java. East, South Sulawesi and Bali. Central Java as one of the provinces that is prepared to develop halal tourist destinations proves its existence by being selected as one of the Leading Halal Travel Destinations on the Mastercard-Cresent Rating, Indonesia Muslim Travel Index (IMTI) 2019 along with 9 other provinces. These 10 regions are considered to have leading halal tourism with global standards However, even though it has been included in the top 10 provinces of leading halal tourist destinations, Central Java is still in position 8 with a score below average. In 2019 the average score of the Top Ten Provinces of IMTI's Leading Halal Tourism Destinations was 55, while the score of Central Java was only 49, so that much improvement is still needed in developing halal tourism in Central Java. However, even though it has entered the ranks of 10 provinces A leading halal tourist destination, Central Java is still in position 8 with a score below average. In 2019 the average score of the Top Ten Provinces of IMTI's Leading Halal Tourism Destinations was 55, while the score of Central Java was only 49, so much improvement is still needed in developing halal tourism in Central Java.
The 2019 IMTI Annual Report shows that Central Java is superior in the field of Access and Service, the value of Central Java is high compared to other regions. However, in the field of Communication and Environment, Central Java has a low score, even the lowest compared to other regions. Therefore, a synergy is needed from the Provincial Government, Regency / City Government, Stakeholders and of course the community to be able to improve Halal Tourism in Central Java to be better than previous years. This is in line with research conducted by Maryati (2019) regarding Perceptions of Halal Tourism in the City of Padang, showing that seen from the GMTI indicator, all indicators have a negative gap, meaning that Padang City still has to improve itself to improve the quality of halal tourism to make it more attractive to people. traveler. The highest gap occurs in the environmental aspect, which in this indicator covers the aspects of the comfort and safety of traveling. As well as aspects of cleanliness, both the destination, the surrounding environment and the tourist facilities provided. This condition indicates that this environmental factor needs to be improved, both in terms of quality and quantity. Based on the explanation above, this study aims to determine the perceptions and preferences of the public towards halal tourism.

Tourism
According to Norval, the definition of tourism is all activities related to the entry, stay and movement of foreign residents within or outside a certain country or city or region. Prof. Hunziker and Kraft stated that tourism is the whole relationship with symptoms arising from the travel or the stay of foreigners, where travel is not permanent or intended to make a living. From the above understanding, tourism can be formulated as a trip taken by a person or group of people, which is temporary, to enjoy objects and attractions at the destination (Kesrul, 2003).

Halal Tourism
At a conceptual level, there are actually many debates related to the use of the concept of halal tourism, Islamic tourism, halal friendly tourism destinations, halal travel, Muslim friendly travel destinations (Muslim-friendly travel destination), and a halal lifestyle. If we look closely, the use of the aforementioned concepts, the most dominant is the use of the concept of Islamic tourism and halal tourism. Mohamed Battour and Mohd Nazari Ismail (2016) said that "any tourism object or action which is permissible according to Islamic teachings to use or engage by Muslims in tourism industry". This means that in the context of halal tourism the basis used is Islamic sharia in services and tourism products not only in Islamic countries, but also in non-Islamic countries. Halal tourism can include halal hotels, halal restaurants, halal resorts and halal trips (Jaelani, 2017).

Perception and Preference
Gunarsa (1991) states that perception is the experience of the object of the event, or the relationships obtained by inferring information and interpreting messages. Where perception gives the meaning of sensory stimuli (sensory stimuli). Meanwhile, according to Robbins (1996) in organizational behavior, perception is defined as a process by which individuals organize and interpret their sensory impressions in order to give to the environment (Putra, 2008). Mappiare (1994) argues that the definition of preference is a mental device consisting of a mixture of feelings, hopes, convictions, prejudices, fears, or other tendencies that lead individuals to a particular choice. Meanwhile, Nugroho J. Setiadi (2013), state that preferences for goods and services are influenced by four factors, namely: (1) cultural factors, including culture, sub-culture and social class; (2) Social factors, including reference groups, family, and roles and status; (3) Personal factors, including age and stages in the life cycle, occupation, lifestyle, and personality and self-concept; (4) Psychological factors, including motivation, perception, learning process, and beliefs and attitudes.

METHODOLOGY
This research uses descriptive quantitative method with a research instrument in the form of a questionnaire. Data were collected from samples calculated using simple random sampling technique with 400 respondents divided into two regions, Semarang City with 260 respondents and Kendal Regency with 140 respondents. Respondents were randomly selected from the public of the two areas. Semarang City was chosen because it is the capital of Central Java Province, while Kendal Regency is one of the districts included in the Semarang Metropolitan Area (Kedungsepur) which has many potential halal tourism destinations that need to be developed.
People's perceptions and preferences will be weighted based on a Likert scale of 1-5, where; 5 = Strongly Agree, 4 = Agree, 3 = Doubt, 2 = Disagree, 1 = Strongly Disagree. The indicators used in this study are the criteria for halal tourism put forward by the 2019 Indonesian Muslim Travel Index (IMTI) which contains 4 dimensions with 18 indicators which can be seen in the following table:  (2021) The data that has been collected from the questionnaire are then accumulated and analyzed to look for gaps between people's perceptions and preferences of halal tourism in Semarang City and Kendal Regency. The analysis method used is Gap Analysis and Importance Performance Analysis to determine the level of importance of the performance of each indicator.
According to Philip Kotler in Nugraha et al. (2014), importanceperformance analysis can be used to rank various elements of a collection of services and identify the actions required. The use of this method in measuring the level of service satisfaction in the quadrants on the Importance Performance Matrix map. (Nugraha et al. 2014).

Figure 1 Importance Performance Matrix
Strategies that can be carried out with regard to the position of each variable in the four quadrants can be explained as follows: Quadrant I (Concentrate These) This is an area that contains factors that are considered important by customers, but in reality these factors are not in accordance with customer expectations (the level of satisfaction obtained is still low). The variables that fall into this quadrant must be increased.

Quadrant II (Keep Up The Good
Work) This is an area that contains factors that are considered important by customers, and factors considered by customers are in accordance with what they feel so that the level of satisfaction is relatively higher. The variables that fall into this quadrant must be maintained because all these variables make the product or service superior in the eyes of the customer.

Quadrant III (Low Priority) This is an area that contains factors that are considered less important by customers, and in fact their performance is not that special. The increase in the variables included in this quadrant can be reconsidered because the effect on the benefits felt by customers is very small.
Quadrant IV (Possible Overkill) This is an area that contains factors that are considered less important by customers, and which are considered too excessive. The variables included in this quadrant can be reduced so that the company can save costs (Suhendra & Prasetyanto, 2016). : Respondents' views on whether the area has the potential to be a halal tourist destination Based on the table above, it can be seen that the majority of respondents as much as 78.5% stated that they know what halal tourism is, as many as 93.5% of respondents also want halal tourism to be developed in their area. In addition, 85.8% of respondents stated that halal tourism has the potential to be developed in Semarang City and Kendal Regency. This shows that people's insights about tourism are quite developed compared to several years ago, as stated by Pratiwi (2016), that most of the respondents do not understand or only understand a little about the concept of sharia tourism, when the others think that halal tourism is the same as Islamic tourism. In addition, the majority of respondents up to 93.5% stated that they chose to visit halal tourist destinations, this means that halal tourism is very potential to be developed because the public interest is quite high.

Analysis of Public Perceptions and Preferences of Halal Tourism
After the validity and reliability tests were carried out which stated that each question item from the 18 indicators on the perception and preference variables was declared valid and reliable, then the data was accumulated and analyzed by calculating the weight of perceptions and preferences for each indicator for all variables with the following results.

Results of Analysis of Community Preferences on Halal Tourism
Participants were asked about their wants, hopes, needs or how important they think it is to be applied in the future regarding access, communication, environment and halal tourism services in Semarang and Kendal.
After the data regarding the value of perception and preference ratings for each indicator is known, then the average level of perception and preference is calculated for all variables. The results of the analysis are as follows: Table 5.

Dimensions
The total value of perception

Gap Analysis
Based on the diagram (see figure 4), it can be seen that the highest value of the gap between people's perceptions and preferences occurs in the Wi-Fi coverage indicator on airports, which is -0.57, and the lowest gap value occurs in the Mosques indicator, which is -0.27. This shows that the availability of Wi-Fi at the airport is still low compared to respondents 'expectations, while the mosques in Semarang City and Kendal Regency are good enough to meet the respondents' expectations. Based on the results of the data processing, a gap analysis was carried out with the results which can be seen in the following graph.

Level of Gap between Public Perceptions and Preferences
Based on the diagram above, it can be seen that the highest value of the gap between people's perceptions and preferences occurs in the Wi-Fi coverage indicator on airports, which is -0.57, and the lowest gap value occurs in the Mosques indicator, which is -0.27. This shows that the availability of Wi-Fi at the airport is still low compared to respondents 'expectations, while the mosques in Semarang City and Kendal Regency are good enough to meet the respondents' expectations.

Importance Performance Analysis (IPA)
The results of the Importance performance analysis were obtained from mapping carried out with the help of SPSS 23 data processing software based on the data on the level of conformity of people's perceptions and preferences towards halal tourism which has been described in table 3.After mapping, the results are obtained in the form of a Cartesian diagram as in the following figure (see figure 5). Based on the IPA matrix, 18 indicators of public's perceptions and preferences towards halal tourism are divided into four quadrants with the following description: Quadrant I. Concentrate These (Main Priority), the results show that indicator 1 (air access), indicator 4 (road infrastructure), and indicator 16 (airport services) are have low performance where the level of influece is high. It is considered important but still not in accordance with the expectations of the public so that stakeholders in Semarang City and Kendal Regency must pay more attention and improve the factors on air access, road infrastructure and services at the airport Quadrant II. Keep Up The Good Work (Maintain Achievement), this study shows that indicator 3 (sea access), indicator 10 (domestic tourist arrivals), indicator 14 (halal restaurants), indicator 15 (mosques), indicator 17 (hotels), and indicators 18 (tourism object) are have a good performance. It is considered by the public to be in accordance with what is felt so that the level of satisfaction is relatively higher. Therefore, sea access, the arrival of domestic tourists, halal restaurants, mosques, hotels and tourist objects must be maintained because all these indicators was make halal tourism in Semarang City and Kendal Regency superior by the public or tourists. Quadrant III. Low Priority (Low Priority), the results of the study show that indicator 2 (train access), indicator 5 (Muslim travel guide), indicator 6 (stakeholder education), indicator 8 (tour guide), indicator 9 (digital marketing), indicator 11 (international tourist arrivals), indicator 12 (Wi-Fi coverage at airport), and indicator 13 (commitment to halal tourism) are havelow of influence and have not good performance. It is considered less important by the public, and in fact their performance is not special. Improvements to train access, Muslim travel guides, stakeholder education, tour guides, digital marketing, international tourist arrivals, Wi-Fi coverage at airports, commitments to halal tourism can be reconsidered because of their impact on benefits felt by customers very small.
Quadrant IV. Possible Overkill (Excessive), the research results show that the indicator 7 (market outreach) is considered less important by customers, and is considered too excessive. Therefore the increase in market outreach can be reduced so that the stakeholders can save costs.
Source: Data processed (2020) Figure 5 Importance performance of the Perception and Preference Matrix

CONCLUSION
Based on the study, the result shows that public's insights regarding halal tourism are quite developed. In addition, the majority of respondents stated that they chose to visit halal tourist destinations, it means that halal tourism is very potential to be developed because public interest was quite high. It also proved that the public's perception is lower than their preference, it means that the public's perception of the performance is still not sufficient to meet the public's expectations so there are still many things that need to be improved by stakeholders especially for the availability of Wi-Fi at the airport. But, public states that mosques in Semarang City and Kendal Regency are good enough.
The 18 indicators for which importance performance analysis has been carried out shows that air access, road infrastructure and airport services must be the main priorities because have low performance where the level of influence is high. Meanwhile, sea access, domestic tourist arrivals, halal restaurants, mosques, hotels and tourist attractions need to be maintained because the high level of influence followed by good performance. Then train access, Muslim travel guides, stakeholder education, tour guides, digital marketing, international tourist arrivals, Wi-Fi coverage at airports and commitment to halal tourism are considered not very important because have low level of influence and the performance is not good. And the last is the market outreach whose the increase needs to be reduced because the performance is good but the influence level is low.
Regarding to research limitations, this study has limitations on the object of its research. Objects in this study are limited to halal tourism in Semarang City and Kendal Regency, so the scope of tourist attractions is not wide enough. This study would be better if the future study can research halal tourism in Central Java as a whole so that respondents will be more subjective in giving assessments. For this reason, further research is expected to expand the scope of the area under study.