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MINISTER of Tourism and Creative Economy Wishnutama Kusubandio explained about the IDR72 billion fund which was intended for “influencers” to ward off economic weakness due to the spread of a new type of corona virus (COVID-19).
“This IDR72 billion is not just for ‘influencers’, there are many components of promotion, so IDR72 billion is for promotion, introduction of tourist destinations, and one of them is’ influencers,” Wishnutama said in the Jakarta Presidential Palace.
On Tuesday (26/2), Coordinating Minister for the Economy Airlangga Hartarto explained that of the total fiscal incentives valued at around IDR10 trillion, there was a promotion budget of IDR103 billion, tourism activities amounting to IDR25 billion and ‘influencers’ as much as IDR72 billion.
“But how much is the exact budget for ‘influencers’? I haven’t counted because we have to ask ‘influencers’, for example, we choose from America, we look for ‘American influencers’, how come we want to influence the American ‘market’, but use ‘influencers’ from Indonesia? It doesn’t affect,” Wishnutama noted.
The selection of “influencers” will also be done by looking at the extent of “engagement” on social media, viewers on YouTube channels or Instagram accounts.
“Well, the best thing is, we will approach it, but we must first calculate the cost. Influencers” plan is not only from the United States but also from Europe, Australia, the Middle East, India and other countries,” he said.
Wishnutama added that right now we are still waiting for the budget from the Ministry of Finance, then we are planning which ‘influencers’ we want to invite. This IDR72 billion budget includes the cooperation of ‘travel agents’, ‘joint promotions’, travel operators also enter there. So this big is not just Indonesia, and in the shortest time, to take the attention of the world market.
But Wishnutama claimed it could not afford to hire a “boy band” from South Korea, Bangtan Boys (BTS) as an “influencer”.
“Our BTS cannot. Frankly if we pay BTS ‘influencers’ we cannot, it will not be able to. That is more than US$10 million for them. But for smaller ones, it is cheaper. Now we are calculating. But for engagement the bigger, the more expensive the automatic, so it must be calculated again and they want it or not it must be asked, not necessarily willing, even if we want how much it costs, we must negotiate,” said Wishnutama.
Earlier, Minister of Finance Sri Mulyani said the government provided an incentive of IDR298.5 billion to save tourism from the COVID-19 outbreak, while to encourage domestic tourists, the government provided incentives for airlines of IDR443.39 billion. The facility is given in the form of a 30% discount for 25% of seats per plane going to ten tourist destinations.
The intended tourist destinations are Lake Toba, Yogyakarta, Malang, Manado, Bali, Mandalika, Labuan Bajo, Bangka Belitung, Batam, and Bintan. The government will also not levy hotel and restaurant taxes on the 10 destinations for six months. Instead, the government will provide compensation to local governments in the form of grants totaling around IDR3.3 trillion. [antaranews]
