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THE COVID-19 pandemic period is a momentum to optimize the development of sustainable tourism that prioritizes the preservation of nature and culture in Indonesia.
According to the Minister of Tourism and Creative Economy, Sandiaga Uno, in the webinar “Sustainable Tourism Development Forum (STDev) Series-5: Optimizing the Strengthening of Sustainable Tourism Observatories (INSTO) Towards Quality and Sustainable Tourism in the Post-Pandemic Era”, Wednesday (9/29), conveyed that there were 34 million Indonesians who depended on the tourism sector for their economic life, so that during this pandemic period there needs to be a rearrangement in the tourism sector so that tourism development prioritizes the preservation of nature and culture. Thus, the tourism sector can continue to be benefited by future generations.
“So that this sector can later become a locomotive sector that encourages efforts to protect nature and cultural heritage with the concept of planet, people, and prosperity so that future generations can enjoy it,” said Sandiaga.
Sandiaga remarked the tourism sector is not a legacy from past generations. Instead, tourism based on nature and culture is a deposit that must be passed on to the next generation.
“In this time of the COVID-19 pandemic, we need to take more innovative, adaptive and collaborative steps to optimize this sustainable tourism,” he noted.
On World Tourism Day which fell on September 27, 2021, with theme is “Tourism for All”, so that all Indonesian people must feel the positive impact of the tourism sector. Moreover, President Joko Widodo has stated that national tourism development is focused on sustainable tourism development, capacity building of human resources, product and service diversification, satisfaction, experience, and technology adoption.
“In line with that, as a concrete program of sustainable tourism development, the Ministry of Tourism and Creative Economy has formed the Indonesian Sustainable Tourism Council. This council consists of experienced people who represent every stakeholder,” Sandiaga pointed out.
Sandiaga explained that the council, which consisted of national tourism figures such as Mari Elka Pangestu and the late I Gede Ardika, carried out several strategic tasks in optimizing sustainable tourism during the COVID-19 pandemic and post-pandemic. These include providing policy directions, advocating ideas, encouraging the application of a tourism code of ethics, controlling and monitoring tourism quality, facilitating sustainable tourism certification, and providing evaluations and recommendations for sustainable tourism development in each tourism pillar.
“The tourism trend triggered by this pandemic is heading towards being personalized related to experiences and memories, localized or having a positive impact on local communities. Then customized or special interest tourism, and smaller in size that prioritizes quality (tourists) not quantity,” he added.
On the same occasion, Sesmenparekraf/Sestama Tourism & Creative Economy, Ni Wayan Giri Adnyani added that the Ministry of Tourism has made efforts to develop sustainable tourism since 2015 through a number of programs. These include Sustainable Tourism Destinations (STD), Sustainable Tourism Observatory (STO), Sustainable Tourism Certification, Sustainable Tourism Industry, and Sustainable Tourism Marketing and Management.
“This Sustainable Tourism Observatory was formed with three dimensions (tasks) namely research, monitoring, as well as reports and recommendations,” Ni Wayan Giri affirmed.
She mentioned that there are five STOs in Indonesia spread across five state universities. In which the five are affiliated with the International Network Sustainable Tourism Observatories (INSTO) belonging to the United Nations World Tourism Organization (UNWTO).
“Monitoring Center (MC) STO Lake Toba is at the University of North Sumatra, then STO Pangandaran at the Bandung Institute of Technology, STO Sleman, Yogyakarta, Borobudur at Gajah Mada University. Then STO Sanur, Bali at Udayana University, and STO Lombok at the University Mataram,” Ni Wayan Giri concluded. [traveltext.id]
