Domestic tourism must become the backbone of the national tourism industry, Coordinating Minister for Maritime Affairs and Investment, Luhut Binsar Pandjaitan, has said.
Reliance on domestic tourists is essential to achieve industry resilience amid extraordinary situations, such as the COVID-19 pandemic, which triggered an economic decline due to a fall in foreign tourist visits to Indonesia, he added.
“We want domestic tourists to account for 60–70 percent of our (tourism) industry backbone. Hence, if (extraordinary conditions) occur, such as the COVID-19 pandemic, the visits will not be completely depleted,” Pandjaitan explained at a press conference on the national coordination meeting for the development of five super-priority tourism destinations here on Friday.
The minister said the government will continue to integrate various events and regional tourism calendars to push up domestic tourist visits.
The UIM F1H2O World Championship, an event planned for March 2023 in Lake Toba, North Sumatra, will be a part of the national tourism calendar, he informed.
“F1H20 will be organized later in Lake Toba in March next year, and the preparation is ongoing. (The event) is expected to balance the Mandalika MotoGP. Hence, we will put international events in annual, monthly, and weekly calendars,” he said.
Besides boosting domestic tourism, Pandjaitan said he hoped that the regional economy could be developed according to each region’s potential to reduce dependence on foreign tourist visits.
“More than half of our tourists, particularly in Bali, are foreign tourists. We do not want that anymore. We will also integrate (economic activities) so as not to (depend only on) tourists but also on MSMEs (micro, small, and medium enterprises), agriculture, or fisheries activities according to a region’s potential. Therefore, we will have greater economic resilience in the future,” the coordinating minister affirmed.
Source: Antara News