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MINISTRY of Tourism & Creative Economy discussed the follow-up programs and efforts to restore the tourism and creative economy (Parekraf) sector of Bali which were significantly affected by the pandemic.
According to the Minister of Tourism and Creative Economy, Sandiaga Salahuddin Uno, during a meeting with the Governor of Bali I Wayan Koster, Thursday (11/2) said that Bali’s economic growth as one of the backbones of Indonesian tourism was minus 9.3% cumulatively in 2020, which is the deepest contraction for Bali Province.
“We just had a meeting and I reported and discussed various programs and efforts to restore the tourism sector and the creative economy in Bali. There were three programs that were the subject of discussion at the meeting. The first was related to the IDR9.9 trillion stimulus program previously proposed by the Bali Provincial Government to central government. The program proposal has been submitted to the Minister of Finance and the Coordinating Minister for the Economy and will then be discussed in the National Economic Recovery (PEN) program,” he said.
He added that the progress of the discussion was ongoing. In this discussion, we hope that policies can side with Bali, because Bali is the backbone of our tourism, which before the pandemic was recorded as having contributed US$20 billion in foreign exchange.
Later, Sandiaga explained, the stimulus would be channeled through a long-term soft loan scheme with interest below KUR (People’s Business Credit). And the disbursement will be channeled through banks so that they can reach businesses and employees in sectors that are badly affected.
“Distribution through banking is so that the governance aspects can be maintained. The Governor wants to ensure that this program runs according to the provisions and regulations and has good governance,” he noted.
In addition, the Ministry of Tourism together with the Provincial Government of Bali are also planning a labor-intensive program worth IDR186 billion which will be realized in 177 tourist villages in Bali. It is expected that 15,000 tourism and creative economy workers can be accommodated in this program every day.
In addition, the meeting also discussed the follow-up to the free COVID corridor proposal which is currently in the final discussion stage by the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Minister of Law and Human Rights, Minister of Health, and also the COVID-19 Task Force.
“Earlier it was also reported regarding the mutual cooperation vaccination program by the industry. The good news is that Bali will be prioritized in this vaccine program and hopefully it can be executed in the next few weeks. We wish Bali tourism to recover soon, because Bringing Back Tourism is Bringing Back. Indonesian Economy,” Sandiaga stated.
Meanwhile, Chairman of Kadin who is also Deputy Chairperson of PEN, Rosan P Roeslani, explained that independent vaccination or mutual aid vaccination is a program that is being pushed to accelerate the achievement of community immunity or herd immunity. So it is expected to accelerate economic recovery, including in the tourism sector and the creative economy.
“I can say that the regulations will be completed in the 3rd week of February 2021. That is the result of our meeting with the government. Hopefully, after there is a regulation and legal umbrella, this program can run in March 2021,” Rosan affirmed.
He explained that the mutual cooperation vaccine would not use the same vaccine used in the free vaccination program by the government. Directions are like Sinopharm, Moderna, Sputnik, or Johnson & Johnson. So at this initial stage, it is not direct exportation, but through Biofarma.
To date, 2,000 companies have registered in the independent vaccination program coordinated by Kadin. Starting from large companies to Micro, small and medium enterprises.
“We will integrate the buyer data with Manpower Social Security Administrator Body (BPJS Ketenagakerjaan) as well as Telkom, so all of them are one data so there is no duplication of vaccine recipients. But I say, according to government directives, companies that buy this vaccine must give it to their employees for free. whatever, “said Rosan.
Likewise, the Governor of Bali, I Wayan Koster, expressed his gratitude to the Ministry of Tourism and Creative Economy for its high support for the recovery of tourism in Bali. He hopes that the tourism and creative economy recovery program in Bali can be realized in 2021
“Thank you to Sandiaga Uno, who during this pandemic period has visited Bali many times, this shows a very high commitment and concern for Bali tourism. We are discussing seriously to be able to save Bali tourism both in the short, medium and long term,” I Wayan Koster added.
Koster concluded what was said earlier, we fully support the points and are indeed the aspirations of tourism and creative economy actors in Bali and the tourism supporting sector. [traveltext.id]
