ER
COORDINATING Minister for Economic Affairs Airlangga Hartarto said the recovery of the tourism sector in Indonesia required strong and consistent intervention from the government.
“Various activities, both in the digital sector and the tourism priority sector, the government continues to encourage and the government also continues to encourage economic recovery programs whose budget is also given to the tourism sector,” he said at the G20 Tourism Working Group (TWG) Kick Off Meeting which was monitored virtually, Jakarta, Monday (2/14).
Based on data from the United Nations tourism agency (UNWTO), it is known that the global tourism sector has experienced a decline in revenue of US$2 trillion, tourist movements have decreased by 80%, and 100 million people have been directly affected by the COVID-19 pandemic.
Therefore, he assessed that the micro, small and medium enterprise (MSME) sector was important to be prioritized by the government as stated in the declaration in Rome, Italy, in the activities of the G-20 Summit (Summit) in 2021.
As agents of tourism change, MSMEs are indispensable because various MICE activities (Meetings, Incentive Tours, Conferences, and Exhibitions) that require this sector are often related to the tourism sector.
At the G-20 Summit in Indonesia this year, he continued, President Joko Widodo conveyed the urgency of carrying out the first and second doses of vaccination, this is one of the requirements for community mobility.
In addition, the Vaccinated Travel Lane (VTL), a special tourist route provided by a country to other countries, is also important for future policies in addition to the travel bubble (a scheme to open tourism gates between countries during the COVID-19 pandemic) has been implemented in Batam, Bintan, Bali, and for the implementation of the G-20.
“I certainly hope that the Ministry of Tourism and Creative Economy as the facilitator of the tourism group encourages the creative economy so that the locomotive of the tourism sector in 2022 can be boosted,” said Airlangga.
The G-20 presidency handed over to Indonesia is considered to be very important for several things, such as to achieve world change, especially inclusive recovery and a more responsive and stronger global economic growth.
“Indonesia believes that the health, digital, energy sectors are the main keys, and of course we encourage the tourism sector as well,” he concluded. [antaranews/photo special]
