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The Semarang Old Town area is a cultural tourist destination with high historical value that attracts millions of visitors annually, yet how advertising and digital information sharing contribute to visiting decisions remains empirically underexplored. The rapid growth of social media users in Indonesia reaching 143 million in early 2025 has made electronic word of mouth a key information source for prospective tourists. This study examines the effects of advertising and electronic word of mouth (e-WOM) on visiting decisions to the Semarang Old Town area. Data were gathered using purposive sampling from 96 tourist respondents and analyzed using multiple linear regression with SPSS. The findings show that advertising and e-WOM each have a positive and significant effect on visiting decisions, and simultaneously both variables also positively and significantly influence visiting decisions. Destination managers are advised to optimize advertising content quality and encourage tourists to generate positive digital reviews to sustainably increase visitor numbers.
Keywords : advertising, electronic word of mouth, visiting decision