Head of the Presidential Staff Office, Moeldoko, has urged national tourism players to think creatively, be innovative, and adapt to the pandemic situation.
Tourism players needed to keep pace with the government’s efforts, which have been expedited under a vision of tourism development in Indonesia for the future, he said.
“The President has stipulated five Super Priority Tourism Destinations and five Priority Tourism Destinations, and the government is pretty committed to preparing these new destinations,” he affirmed here on Tuesday, according to a press release received the same day.
Therefore, he said his office hopes tourism actors would become the government’s strategic partners and help address tourism issues beyond the government’s capacity.
According to Moeldoko, the government has prepared infrastructure at new destinations to support tourism as a source of community livelihood. However, tourism also needs to be supported by optimizing human resources that are suitable to market demands, he said.
Based on the Presidential Staff Office’s data, the pandemic situation has severely impacted the global tourism industry. In 2020, around 4.052 million foreign tourists entered Indonesia, he said adding, the figure was just 25 percent of the tourist arrivals in 2019.
The decline in foreign tourists had a direct impact on the occupancy of hotels in Indonesia, and it led to a decline of Rp20.7 billion in state revenue from the tourism sector, Moeldoko noted.
However, the Central Bureau of Statistics has noted an increase in community tourism activities in 2021 and early 2022, although they have not reached pre-pandemic levels, he said.
In October 2021, 151.03 thousand foreign tourists visited Indonesia, an increase of 21.73 percent compared to the previous month, he noted.
“COVID-19 has invited us to think (ahead), in a more advanced manner. We must have new methods that are more flexible and adaptable. If we are not innovative in creating new ways, then we will be left behind,” he remarked.
Source: Antara News