In 2018 the Ciletuh Geopark was awarded the Global Geopark Network by UNESCO. Ciletuh Geopark is
one of the favorite tourist destinations for national and international tourists and one of West Java tourism flagships with beautiful natural conditions. The COVID-19 pandemic is the cause of instability in the tourism sector as all tourism activities have stopped following the Government’s Large-Scale Social Restrictions policy to suppress the pandemic’s spread. Government public relations’ role is to observe changes or dynamics in society, provide the right amount of information to the community, bridge the community and government, and harmonize problems in society with public relations information properly. This study aims to determine the role of government public relations in tourism development during the COVID-19 pandemic at Ciletuh Geopark. The method used in this research is a descriptive qualitative approach with field studies. The results show that the role of government public relations in delivering policies to overcome and develop Ciletuh Geopark tourism has been carried out, namely by providing information about health protocols in tourism activities at Ciletuh Geopark even though the information provided is not distributed well towards the community, especially the people around the Geopark. Ciletuh. The government has also mapped the socio-ecological relationship in the Ciletuh Geopark area and the policy of opening tourist attractions in the new-normal era. In the Ciletuh Geopark, the local government would share information about health protocols in the Ciletuh area for all stakeholders. The information dissemination was shared among eight sub-district stakeholders and local communities. So, information about health protocols in the tourist area of Ciletuh can be optimally implemented to prevent the spread of the COVID-19 virus.
Keyword(s): Government public relations, government policy, Ciletuh Geopark, tourism, the COVID-19 pandemic