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MINISTRY of Tourism and Creative Economy encourages the ASITA (Association of the Indonesian Tours and Travel Agent) to have a digital platform to prepare for the predicted surge in tourists after the COVID-19 epidemic.
According to the Minister of Tourism and Creative Economy, Wishnutama Kusubandio during a virtual discussion on the ASITA Business Talk, Saturday (2/5) explained, now we see how technology and digital media provide a new way of routine and life that will become “New Normal”. Moreover, lifestyle, searching for information, comparing products, ordering tour packages, and sharing information have now been done digitally.
“This pandemic will bring us to the” New Normal “condition. Including the meeting that we are doing right now. We are shown how technology and digital media lead us to new routines and ways of life. This is what we will soon experience in our tourism industry. Even though the various technologies we use such as virtual reality (VR) are very sophisticated, they cannot replace the experience when we visit tourist destinations directly,” Wishnutama said.
During the virtual discussion forum at ASITA Business Talk, there were also ASITA chairman Nunung Rusmiati, Roslan Othman Director of Tourism Malaysia Jakarta, Tantowi Yahya, Indonesian Ambassador to New Zealand, Pratito Soeharyo Indonesian Ambassador to Laos, West Lombok Regent, Fauzan Khalid, to several Kadispar and ASITA members in Indonesia.
Furthermore, Wishnutama explained, the digital era has indeed become a formidable challenge for travel agents in general. Digital platforms are believed to be very needed in the tourism ecosystem that brings buyers and sellers where all travel agents, accommodations, attractions are gathered to transact, especially in preparing for a surge in tourists after the COVID-19 epidemic.
“ASITA’s friends have to look for potential especially in the midst of this COVID-19 pandemic, like it or not, digital era is a necessity, and this is a challenge for ASITA,” he noted.
The Ministry of Tourism and Creative Economy, Wishnutama continued, was coordinating with tourism stakeholders to prepare for the surge in tourists by making attractive and competitive tourism packages. So that after the pandemic period is over, his party will immediately aggressively carry out promotions both domestically and abroad.
“Certainly as an initial step to move domestic tourists by creating competitive tourism packages. We have also communicated with Garuda and the hotel chain to make attractive packages. Later after the pandemic is over we are ready to welcome tourists,” he added.
New tourism trends and paradigms, Wishnutama said, are expected to occur after the COVID-19 epidemic. This leads to health and comfort in various sectors ranging from attractions, accommodation, product preferences, transportation, to hygienic labels.
“In the future tourism development, we will focus on very principle matters such as clean toilets, sanitation and hygiene. As one example, the toilets in Mandalika are made on par with starred hotel toilets. “We hope that there will be a certification of tourist attractions or hotels that meet these criteria, safe in terms of security, health guaranteed and this will be very important,” he said.
He affirmed while speaking at the G20 forum, I encouraged all countries to continue to work together in preparing new standards in responding to the dynamics of global change due to the COVID-19 pandemic in the tourism sector.
“It takes strong cooperation to encourage the world in mitigating and restoring the situation. Both during the pandemic and post-epidemic. Indonesia is ready to assist, in formulating global policies and implementing new norms and standards,” he concluded. [traveltext.id]
