The Coordinating Ministry for Maritime Affairs and Investment has said that it is expecting startups chosen for the third batch of the Startup Studio Indonesia (SSI) program to help script a tourism sector recovery.

“Perhaps in the future, our startup friends from batch 3 can help the tourism industry, especially employees who are experiencing difficulty in surviving,” deputy for tourism and creative economy at the ministry, Odo R.M Manuhutu, at a virtual event on Monday.

Efforts to recover the tourism sector through startups have been made in a number of countries, he pointed out.

For instance, startup entrepreneurs have developed applications for facilitating tourists wanting to visit certain tourist spots, he informed.

Manuhutu expressed the hope that Indonesian startups would help improve the quality of domestic tourism through the skills, competency, and new technology that they possess.

During the virtual event, he also urged startup entrepreneurs to continue to create innovations that would have a direct impact on the people.

He cited the examples of the founder of Amazon, Jeff Bezos, and the CEO of Tesla, Elon Musk, who are now developing space tourism.

“With just 10 years’ worth of research, they have now successfully developed space tourism … this means that they see the opportunities to develop technology through research in order to create new markets,” Manuhutu remarked.

Earlier, the Ministry of Communication and Informatics had announced the names of 15 startups that have been chosen for the third batch of the SSI intensive incubation program.

The 15 startups selected for the third batch are AturKuliner, AyoBlajar, Bicarakan, Bolu, Eateroo, Finku, FishLog, Gajiku, Imajin, Keyta, Powerbrain, KreatifHub, Sgara, Soul Parking, and Zi.Care.

The Startup Studio Indonesia program aims to provide mentorship to digital startups that are currently trying to achieve a product-market fit so that they can develop quickly.

Source: Antara News