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HOTEL and restaurant entrepreneurs in Indonesia face unfortunate losses due to the corona virus outbreak. The airlines were urged to reduce the price of plane tickets in order to lure foreign tourists visiting a number of regions in Indonesia.
According to the Chairperson of the Indonesian Hospitality and Restaurant Association (PHRI), Hariyadi Sukamdani in the 17th National Conference of the Indonesian Hotel and Restaurant Association (PHRI) attended by Indonesian Vice President Ma’ruf Amin, Minister of Tourism and Creative Economy Wishnutama Kusubandio, Governor of West Java Ridwan Kamil, Deputy Governor of Bali Tjokorda Oka Artha Ardana Sukawati and INACA Chairperson Denon Prawiraatmadja said in the calculation of losses due to the large number of Chinese tourists who canceled visits to Indonesia reached Rp2.7 trillion.
“Chinese tourists who come to Indonesia every Chinese New Year holiday reach 3000 people with a cost per person of US$1,100 every day. If it is estimated, the tourism sector in the January-February 2020 period will lose potential revenue of almost IDR2.7 trillion or US$200 million,” Hariyadi said.
To prevent things from getting worse, Indonesian Hospitality and Restaurant Association has made tour operators, travel agents, transportation entrepreneurs, airlines, amusement park managers, property entrepreneurs and other tourism industries launching Visit Wonderful Indonesia (Viwi) Nusantara Shocking Deals 2020 to stimulate domestic tourism in the country.
“We offer low (cost) tour packages ranging from hotel rooms, plane tickets and transportation to encourage an increase in local tourists,” he said.
He added, in 2020 the government targeted 2.8 million tourists from China from a total of 20 million foreign tourists visiting Indonesia. While in Indonesia, Chinese tourists stay an average of 7 days with an expenditure of US$1.09 per visit per person. Their favorite destinations are Bali, Manado, Lombok, Jakarta and the Riau Islands.
While the Minister of Tourism and Creative Economy Wishnutama Kusubandio invited all members of PHRI to build a conducive tourism ecosystem. Because the tourism sector is currently targeted by the government to be able to become the largest foreign exchange earner for Indonesia.
“To Indonesian Hospitality and Restaurant Association colleagues, talking about the tourism industry cannot just talk about marketing or promotion, but also talk about ecosystems. The tourism ecosystem also needs to be developed. As a matter of connectivity, security and safety, the capacity of the transportation chair to go to Indonesia, and so on,” he added.
He explained, there were indeed many things that needed to be improved and became our homework together. But I am optimistic, if done together we can realize the advanced tourism industry in Indonesia. And I appreciate Indonesian Hospitality and Restaurant Association who has been a partner of Kemenparekraf so far who launched Viwi Nusantara Schoking Deals 2020.
On the same occasion Vice President KH Ma’ruf Amin in his speech invited Indonesian Hospitality and Restaurant Association and all stakeholders in the tourism sector to continue to innovate in anticipating the decline in the number of foreign tourists visiting due to the outbreak of the corona virus.
“This is done by developing a strategy to increase domestic tourists as the backbone of the hotel industry and to take advantage of the ‘carrying capacity’ of hotel facilities during low season. I also encourage that Indonesian Hospitality and Restaurant Association can package hotel packages that are integrated with interesting conventions or attractions for the community, government and non-government circles, businesses, to the community. As well as using more digital platforms for promotion and so on,” the Vice President said. [traveltext.id]
