ER
THE MINISTRY of Tourism and Creative Economy together with the Presidential Staff Office (KSP) and related stakeholders held a coordination meeting for the development of Ubud as a gastronomic (culinary arts) destination for the United Nations World Tourism Organization (UNWTO) 2023.
A coordination meeting followed by site visit activities took place at the Puri Lukisan Museum in Ubud, recently. Present on the occasion was the Head of the Gianyar Tourism Office, I Wayan Gede Sedana Putra; Penglingsir Puri Agung Ubud, Tjokorda Putra Sukawati; as well as a number of Ubud tourism stakeholders and academics from universities in Bali.
According to the Director of Special Interest Tourism of the Ministry of Tourism, Itok Parikesit, said the development of Ubud as a 2023 UNWTO Gastronomic Destination is part of supporting the Indonesia Spice Up The World (ISUTW) program.
“This program is one of the action plans for the 2023 National Priority Program in the Tourism Sector which will be monitored through the 2023 Monitoring and Evaluation System (Sismonev) by KSP. Apart from developing gastronomic destinations, the essence of Indonesia Spice Up The World is the export of spices, the development of Indonesian restaurants outside country, as well as culinary promotion,” said Itok.
This coordination meeting is expected to strengthen the unification of vision between the government and tourism and creative economy stakeholders in Gianyar Regency.
“After this destination is established, there must be an organization that manages this gastronomic destination. Starting from the organization formed by the local government to the grassroots community groups so the results will be very good,” Itok remarked.
Likewise member of the Indonesia Gastronomy Network, Ismayanti Istanto, explained, the process of making Ubud a gastronomic destination has been running since 2018. The process has gone through various stages where in 2023 will be the third stage. If this stage has been completed, then Ubud is ready to become a gastronomic destination.
“Stakeholders in Ubud are very collaborative, seeing that food is not just culinary but has become a hereditary tradition,” Ismayanti noted.
Meanwhile Professor of Udayana University, Prof. Dr. I Gede Pitana, M.Sc hopes that in the near future the establishment of an institution as one of the conditions for UNWTO can be formed soon.
“This must be done immediately to be able to strengthen the Ubud brand as a gastronomic tourism destination. The product is complete. The community, the community, the private sector are the main stakeholders who determine it,” said Prof. Pitana.
Making Ubud a gastronomic destination has actually been carried out by the Gianyar Regency Government since 2018. It’s just that the concept is not like what is currently being pursued together.
“One of the policies issued in the gastronomy is the protection of sustainable paddy fields. That is one of the products for our gastronomic activities. Then we want to create healthy traditional Gianyar culinary,” said Head of the Gianyar Regency Tourism Office, I Wayan Gede Sedana Putra.
Main Expert Deputy I of the Presidential Staff Office, Helson Siagian, asked that planning be carried out properly, have clear and structured targets, and that the community must understand the benefits of the Ubud Gastronomy program. His party also asked the Gianyar Regency Government to start socializing Ubud Gastronomy from now on.
“It must be immediate, and the KSP will help. Later it is hoped that it will be spread in various media so that it will be known,” he added.
In the short term, a technical meeting will be held in preparation for the visit of the UNWTO assessors including to map out the needs for identification of low hanging fruit which can be collaborated with the regional government and the central government. [traveltext.id/photo special]
