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THE MINISTRY of Tourism and Creative Economy increases tourism awareness among tourism actors in Wakatobi, Southeast Sulawesi for tourism development in rural areas.
“COVID-19 has a significant impact, especially for the tourism sector and the creative economy. We need to encourage quality-based tourism that offers unique experiences that bring comfort to tourists. Tourism Villages are an alternative to natural tourism that can present uniqueness, through product characteristics. local attractions and regional attractions,” said Minister of Tourism and Creative Economy, Sandiaga Salahudin Uno in a statement received in Jakarta on Monday (6/20).
The Tourism Awareness socialization in Wakatobi Regency was followed by village tourism movers which included the Tourism Awareness Group (Pokdarwis), village officials, residents who mostly work as fishermen, PKK Cadres and Youth Organizations. Alternative tourism that offers unique experiences for tourists can be packaged through local products and local attractions.
“This is a very crucial and important thing to convince tourists, because it will change the face of Indonesia’s tourism and creative economy in the pandemic era which is slowly becoming endemic, because tourists tend to choose destinations that prioritize a sense of security, comfort, cleanliness, health and sustainability environment,” he said.
In line with this change in the pattern of tourism development, tourism actors must become tourism drivers in their respective villages.
Meanwhile Acting Deputy for Resources and Institutions at the Tourism Ministry, Frans Teguh, said tourism players certainly hope that tourists will feel at home, comfortable, visiting for a long duration and even coming back.
“For this reason, the tourism activities offered must provide the best and unique experiences so that they are attractive to tourists,” Frans remarked.
In line with that, the Middle Expert Policy Analyst of the Ministry of Tourism and Creative Economy, Rinto Taufik Simbolon who represents the Directorate of Human Resources Development (HR) for Tourism.
“So the socialization carried out here aims to make the community as a tourism driver truly independent in carrying out unique tourism attractions and promoting various creative economic products to tourists who visit based on the principles of Sapta Pesona, Excellent Service and CHSE,” Rinto noted.
He continued that now the villagers own the tourist destinations, and the community is the host. This Tourism Village concept makes people stay in the village and tourists who come to visit the village. It is important for villagers to add value to existing tourism activities with sincere services.
Rinto further said that tourism actors in the village and all residents must adapt to changes in tourist behavior at this time, due to changes in tourist behavior who prefer tourist destinations that are not too crowded and prefer activities carried out in open spaces.
“In this case, the concept of the Tourism Village is an alternative to attracting tourist visits,” he added.
Wakatobi Regency, which has been designated as one of the Priority Tourism Destinations, has the potential for the existence of Wakatobi National Park which has around 90% of the world’s coral species and has been designated by UNESCO as one of the world’s biosphere reserves.
Wakatobi Regency is an archipelago in Southeast Sulawesi with 75 villages spread across Wangi-Wangi, Kaledupa, Tomia and Binongko Islands. The first stage of socialization was carried out in four villages, namely Liya Togo Village (Wangi-Wangi Island), Pajam Village and Tanomeha Village (Kaledupa Island) and Kulati Village (Tomia Island).
The Tourism Awareness Campaign targets tourism actors in the village to understand the pillars of tourism development which consists of elements of Sapta Pesona, Excellent Service and CHSE (Cleanliness, Health, Safety and Environment Sustainability).
Starting in mid-March 2022, the Tourism Awareness Campaign which consists of stages starting from Socialization, Training, Preparation of Tourism Village Development Programs, Assistance, Assessment and Appreciation, targets 65 Tourism Villages in 2022 and 90 Tourism Villages in 2023.
Furthermore, Tourism Awareness Socialization will continue in six other Indonesian Tourism Priority Destinations (DPPs) until 2023, including Lombok (West Nusa Tenggara), Lake Toba (North Sumatra), Borobudur-Yogyakarta-Prambanan (Central Java and Yogyakarta Special Region), Bromo-Tengger-Semeru (East Java), Wakatobi National Park (Southeast Sulawesi), and Labuan Bajo/Komodo National Park (East Nusa Tenggara).
Tourism Awareness socialization is sustainable, in the future there will be training related to the potential of tourism products, entrepreneurship and other tourism field training, so that it is hoped that from each village can be born local champions or drivers in the development of their respective tourist villages. [sources/photo special]
