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BATAM Center International Port is crowded, foreign tourists are busy chatting while carrying groceries in bags, preparing to return to Singapore after spending the weekend in Batam City, Riau Islands.
It was a scene two years ago, March 2019, to be precise. At that time, the Central Bureau of Statistics recorded that 159,752 foreign tourists visited Batam after the low seasons of January and February.
Don’t ask questions about last year and today. Nearly empty port. The lighting and cooling are also made dim, so that they are not in vain. Very sad. Since April 2020, the number of foreign tourist arrivals to Batam has dropped, by up to 99.71%
If in the previous years, Batam visited an average of more than 100,000 foreign tourists, then since the pandemic hit, the figure was only four digits long. Only about 1,000 people come each month. Even in October, the number was only 457 people.
Tourism and maintaining public health are like two magnetic poles that repel each other. There are two options, increasing tourism with the threat of COVID-19 transmission, or efforts to break the chain of transmission of the corona virus by closing foreign tourist visits. Of course, the government chooses to save the people. For the last 10 months, borders have been officially closed.
But now there are other options, The Minister of Tourism and Creative Economy, Sandiaga Uno chose to become the link between the two magnetic poles of tourism and health, with the travel bubble policy. As explained a travel bubble is an agreement with other countries to open entry access for tourists so that bubbles or travel corridors will arise.
A number of countries have implemented it. Hopefully, the same concept can be applied in Batam and Bintan with Singapore, which is also a neighbor. On this basis, Sandiaga held discussions with the Singaporean side.
During his visit to Batam, January 22, 2021, Sandiaga stated that he had spoken with a number of parties, including Singapore Foreign Minister Vivian Balakrihnan and Indonesian Foreign Minister Retno Marsudi, as well as the Indonesian Ambassador to Singapore Suryopratomo to streamline the plan.
“I can’t make grandiose promises. I have to be careful with high hopes. Hopefully this can be realized, at least Batam and Bintan can be reopened,” he said.
The travel bubble is a policy of limited border opening so as not to increase the spread of COVID-19 in the two countries.
Sandi admitted that there was no detailed agreement on the implementation of the travel bubble with Singapore. However, I emphasize that the main condition is that the transmission rate of COVID-19 has decreased and is stable. He also emphasized that for him public health remains the main thing, therefore his party must ensure that the areas designated by the travel bubble must be ready, by implementing the COVID-19 health protocol.
Best Bintan
During his recent visit to Batam and Bintan, the Minister deliberately wanted to see firsthand the implementation of health protocols in the two city districts which are opposite Singapore and Malaysia.
Sandiaga Uno wants to make sure that the two tourist areas in Batam and Bintan are ready to implement a travel bubble. Sandi praised the implementation of health protocols in Batam and Bintan. In fact, according to him, Bintan is one of the best and a very well prepared destination.
This is also considered to be an input to talk with colleagues from related ministries and agencies in talks about trying to open the travel bubble border. After seeing a number of locations in Batam and Bintan, he stated that he would try to push to accelerate the travel bubble talks.
On that occasion, he said, Batam and Bintan depend on tourism and the creative economy. The two regencies and cities in Riau Islands are currently facing tough conditions, so they need special considerations in order to prepare themselves for recovery.
Sandiaga Uno argues that the acceleration step is important, among others, because the Chinese New Year will soon be coming, which will also be the biggest opportunity for Batam and Bintang tourism, but by paying attention to quality and healthy tourism.
Exclusive Tourism
Meanwhile, Head of the Riau Islands Tourism Office, Buralimar expressed his hopes for the best policy from the government to revive the tourism industry which is currently gloomy, but still prioritizes public health.
According to Buralimar, the travel bubble application is suitable for exclusive tourism areas, including in Nongsa, Lagoi, Cempedak Island, Nikoi Island, Kepri Coral and Telunas. This is because in these places it is considered that a comprehensive and strict health protocol can be applied.
“The government was striving for Bintan to be opened before the Chinese New Year celebrations. For the sake of smoothing the travel bubble plan, we plans to invite the authority for issuing hygiene certification in Singapore (SG Clean) to check health protocols in Bintan,” he noted
SG Clean is a campaign to improve public hygiene standards amid the COVID-19 pandemic in Singapore. SG Clean certificate is given for hotels, restaurants, tourist attractions and others that meet the requirements.
Buralimar explained that the certification is needed to convince prospective travelers from Singapore to have a vacation in Riau Islands. In addition, in order to convince Singaporean travelers to visit, the transmission rate of COVID-19 must be suppressed for 21 days.
If the transmission rate is kept to a minimum, and vaccinations are successful, then in the future the tourism sector in the archipelago will also be able to get excited again as before. [antaranews/photo special]
