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THE IMPLEMENTATION of the travel bubble trial between Singapore and Indonesia, especially in the Batam and Bintan areas, which began today is one of the strategic steps to revive the national economy and tourism.
According to the Minister of Tourism and Creative Economy, Sandiaga Uno in the ‘Weekly Press Briefing’ held online in Jakarta, Monday (1/24) said the trial scheme will be carried out in stages followed by monitoring, controlling, and evaluating the implementation of the travel bubble in order to prevent the spread of COVID-19.
“Today, January 24, is the first day that the travel bubble between Indonesia and Singapore will be tested. The plan to open the Riau Islands for Singaporean foreign tourists through a travel bubble scheme has been approved by President Joko Widodo as a prototype to start the opening of the economy, especially tourism in a controlled and limited, sustainable and gradual manner,” said Sandiaga.
The travel bubble scheme in the Batam, Bintan and Singapore areas is listed in the Circular Letter of the COVID-19 Handling Task Force Number 3 of 2022. This circular regulates foreign travel players, in this case tourists, to carry out activities.
Among them, tourists must make a reservation in advance at one of the accommodation providers in the Lagoi and Nongsa areas and are only allowed to move in the two areas. Regarding the PCR test, it must be done a maximum of 3×24 hours before the departure time.
Minister Sandiaga explained, in supporting the travel bubble scheme later, Bandar Bentan Telani Port is ready to receive 500 tourists from Singapore on eight trips per day. But initially we start with one trip first around 50-100 tourists. We will gradually increase this.
This travel bubble policy is only applied to tourists from Singapore to Batam-Bintan, Indonesia. Meanwhile, tourists from Batam who want to go to Singapore must of course follow the policies set by the Singapore government.
“We hope that this will be a strategic step for the revival and recovery of our economy and the creation of job opportunities,” he noted
In connection with the MotoGP event which will be held in March 2022, Sandiaga stated that the international event will continue to run amid the challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic but with the implementation of strict and disciplined health protocols.
“In the middle of Omicron, I want to convey the show must go on. We have prepared and implemented the travel bubble with full vigilance and caution for the racers, crew, officials, including the officers involved in MotoGP,” he remarked.
And thank God, he continued NTB as the host is also ready. The achievement of vaccine dose 1 reached 100 percent and dose 2 was above 70%. Hopefully this can reduce the potential spread of new variants including Omicron.
The travel bubble concept that will be applied to crews, officials, racers, and committees involved in MotoGP is more or less the same as the travel bubble that is being piloted for Singaporean tourists to Indonesia. Where they will perform a PCR-test before departure and upon arrival.
“They are also only allowed to carry out activities in the Mandalika bubble. Meanwhile, the audience will not be subject to a travel bubble, because I predict that as many as 90% of the viewers who come are domestic tourists,” Sandiaga affirmed.
Later on, technically, he continued, they will continue to use the circulars issued that carry out their activities with strict and disciplined health protocols. So for the audience, they are free to travel around NTB. But not for the racers, crew, technicians and committees who use the travel bubble system.
“The self-quarantine scheme will be adjusted to the current pandemic situation. But we hope that with the number of spectators of 100 thousand, with the data that will immediately enter from the organizers, we can determine what kind of travel bubble with priority handling of the pandemic so that MotoGP does not become a trigger for COVID-19 cases,” he stated.
Regarding the Bali destination, the Menparekraf explained that the Indonesian Embassy in Tokyo had carried out a Famtrip to Bali on 27-30 December 2021, which was attended by journalists from NHK and Kyodo News Jakarta Bureau. This visit aims to provide information for international media regarding the current situation and readiness of Bali to accept foreign tourists, especially from Japan.
“Thank God this visit got a positive response from the Japanese media,” said Sandiaga.
The Minister of Tourism and Creative Economy explained that direct flights from Japan and the reduction of the quarantine period in the two countries were very crucial factors so that the Japanese market could come to Indonesia, especially to Bali. Time efficiency is very important for Japanese tourists considering the length of stay for Japanese tourists is 7-14 days.
He hopes for further support from all parties in encouraging the promotion of tourism and Balinese culture in Japan.
“We encourage Garuda Indonesia in particular to seek to reactivate Japan-Indonesia direct flights. This is something tourism and creative economy actors have been waiting for, especially in Bali. And for tourism promotion, we will do it up-to-date through many digitalization promotions in Japanese,” he explained.
“Of course, this proposal will not burden Garuda Indonesia. Of course, in the future, they will only open direct flights with countries that are ready to travel to Indonesia. We will not direct Garuda to open a route that has no demand. So there must be, so that Garuda cannot lose,” the Minister concluded. [traveltext.id]
