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THE INDONESIA’S Minister of Tourism and Creative Economy, Sandiaga Uno, through the press conference Global Tourism Forum (GTF) 2021 virtually, Tuesday (9/14) said that my support for GTF 2021 with the theme “Leaders Summit Asia 2021” was a form of Tourism Ministry’s efforts to revive the Meeting, Incentive, Convention, and Exhibition (MICE) sector in the era of new habits. Currently, the government is focusing on holding MICE activities by complying with the Cleanliness, Health, Safety, and Environmental Sustainability (CHSE)-based health protocol.
“With this focus, every MICE activity in Indonesia will have a positive effect on the country’s economy,” said Sandiaga.
He explained that this success will also determine whether Indonesia can hold other MICE activities that were previously planned. That several events that had been scheduled were the G20 forum, ASEAN tourism, the APEC tourism working group, to the World Conference on the Creative Economy.
“In that context, we are ready and look forward to taking more collaborative action with the World Tourism Forum Institute and its network. The goal is for the revival of the tourism industry and a stronger economy,” Sandiaga underlined.
GTF 2021, can be used as an initial step in the implementation of MICE activities, especially large events during the COVID-19 pandemic. The reason is, the COVID-19 pandemic has stopped large national and international events.
He added that the desire to restore the MICE sector was based on the multiplier effect generated when holding an event. MICE activities can create and invite many people to do tourism in the area. That way, MICE have a big economic impact for a country.
Sandiaga said that the tourism industry made a big contribution to the world, and to ASEAN in particular. Tourism has contributed to state revenues, created jobs and maintained a sustainable environment. However, the pandemic erased all positive growth and left the country struggling to maintain the sustainability of the industry. The ASEAN region is responsively making various efforts to safeguard the tourism sector.
Meanwhile, at the national level, he continued that several steps have been taken to overcome the pandemic. We in Indonesia are also focused on overcoming the pandemic by implementing the CHSE protocol, launching vaccinations for tourism and travel workers, disbursing government grants and incentives for tourism businesses. On the other hand, President Joko Widodo remains committed to accelerating infrastructure development in our 5 Super Priority Destinations (Borobudur, Lake Toba, Mandalika, Labuan Bajo and Likupang).
“Hopefully, the success of reducing the positive number of COVID-19 in Indonesia can be good news for all of us. The reduction in COVID-19 cases is also a success for the Indonesian government,” Sandiaga concluded. [traveltext.id]
