Role of Instagram Social Media Hashtag Against Millennial Tourists' Interest in Mursala Island, Central Tapanuli Regency, North Sumatra

Mursala Island with all its beauty and tourist attraction makes many tourists want to travel to the place, and currently the local government is aggressively promoting Mursala Island as a mandatory destination that must be visited in Central Tapanuli through the use of social media technology, especially Instagram with the use of hashtags. Where the use of hashtags on Instagram is very important, especially for entrepreneurs and travelers so that more users are reached. The use of hashtags for social media Instagram is the most popular way to categorize content so that it can be seen by others. Hashtags can also be useful for connecting fellow social media users based on similar themes or interests. where social media is a necessity for the millennial generation to be creative, explore, and entertain, this is what prompted the author to raise the topic of the title of this research. The basic concepts used in this study are the hashtag concept, social media, visiting interest, millennials, tourism, tourist attraction, instagram, impact. Data collection techniques in this study include interviews, observation, questionnaires, and documentation. The technique of determining informants uses purposive sampling. The analysis in this study uses descriptive qualitative analysis. The results show that the role of Instagram social media hashtags related to the function of grouping information and personal branding has several benefits, including making it easier for everyone to find posts, making location searches easier, promoting products or services easier, reaching wider consumers, and getting lots of followers/ like. And the impact of hashtags on millennial tourists' interest in visiting Mursala Island, Central Tapanuli Regency related to the use of social media has 4 indicators according to (Chris Heuer), the first is Context, Context is how to form a story or information. The second is collaboration, namely cooperation between an account or company and its users on social media. Third is communication, where communication is an act of sharing stories, both listening, responding and others that make users feel comfortable and the message is conveyed. And the last is Connection, where connection is an act of maintaining a relationship that has been nurtured on an ongoing basis, so that fellow account users will feel closer on social media. Keywords:Role, Hashtag, Instagram Social Media, Interest in Visiting, Millennial Tourists, Mursala Island.