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THE INDONESIA’S Ministry of Tourism and Creative Economy ensures that vaccination rates are highly correlated in ensuring measures to reopen tourism destinations and creative economy centers. Including the opening of a Travel Corridor Arrangement (TCA) targeted at Bali, Batam, and Bintan, it can be accelerated if the complete dose of vaccination has been carried out 75 to 80%
According to the Minister of Tourism and Creative Economy, Sandiaga Uno in the webinar “The Future of the Travel and Tourism Sector Post-Vaccination Program” organized by Poligov Indonesia, Wednesday (8/25) said vaccination is one of the pillars in efforts to suppress the spread of COVID-19.
“The three main destinations that we will open (within the framework of) the travel corridor arrangement, namely Batam, Bintan, and Bali, are still in the precondition of 75 to 80% of vaccinations being distributed to the targeted population. These preconditions can be addressed,” said Minister Sandiaga Uno.
Sandiaga explained that the opening of Batam, Bintan, Bali must also consider other preconditions. Such as end-to-end Cleanliness, Health, Safety and Environmental Sustainability (CHSE) certifications, and industry readiness. If various government programs to help tourism & creative economy players are executed properly, I am optimistic that by the end of the third or fourth quarter we will be able to test the opening of our borders.
“Because Phuket has started from the beginning of July with the sandbox concept, it means that we can start at least in the three destinations I mentioned, Batam, Bintan and Bali,” Sandiaga remarked.
The Tourism Ministry itself targets to be able to vaccinate up to 95% of tourism and creative economy actors. As of August 23, 2021, more than 193,000 people have been vaccinated through various vaccination centers in collaboration with the Ministry of Tourism and Creative Economy.
It is targeted that by September 2021, as many as 450,000 tourism and creative economy communities will be vaccinated through the Ministry of Tourism’s vaccination center. So that the number can continue to increase until December 2021.
Furthermore, Sandiaga appealed to the public to use the PeduliLindung application developed by the government. The Ministry of Tourism will maximize the role and function of the application which will later be able to assist and facilitate various community needs regarding health protocols or information about vaccines, as well as crowd control at destinations.
“We hope that this application will be able to monitor closely and also give us the opportunity to open our borders along with the decline in cases of COVID-19,” Sandiaga noted.
Meanwhile, the Director General of Information and Public Diplomas of the Indonesian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Teuku Faizasyah, said the PeduliLindung application also plays a role in identifying people who have been vaccinated so that they can be used as a tracking and tracing tool. The government can monitor the number of people who have been vaccinated, so that this can have the opportunity to build a vaccine certificate data collection system with various partner countries.
“Although there is no global standardization yet, vaccine certificates are slowly becoming a normal and international practice. And there is an opportunity to build a vaccine certificate data collection system with various partner countries, especially those that donate foreign tourists with a significant economic impact,” said Faizasyah.
Likewise, the Governor of the Riau Islands, Ansar Ahmad, said that the distribution of vaccines in Batam and Bintan had almost reached 75 percent. I also said that his party continues to prepare for the opening of Batam and Bintan.
“The COVID-19 case in Batam Bintan has also decreased, and we also continue to coordinate with the central government in the opening of Batam and Bintan,” Ansar concluded. [traveltext.id]
