THE MINISTRY of Tourism and Creative Economy is again collaborating with tourism and travel service bureaus to launch the Eco Deals program as an effort to develop the hospitality industry throughout Indonesia.
“Eco Deals is a program that provides an opportunity for tourists to support sustainable tourism as a WWF marine and forest conservation initiative in popular tourist destinations in eight program countries,” said the Minister of Tourism, Sandiaga Uno in an official broadcast received in Jakarta.
The Eco Deals program is an effort to help digitize the hotel industry and play a role in providing marketing support to large and small hotel partners throughout Indonesia.
The Ministry of Tourism hooked a tourism and travel service bureau as a partner of the official “Wonderful Indonesia” co-branding. With an effective memorandum of understanding (MoU) since May 2022, the Ministry of Tourism and Creative Economy invites the private sector to become long-term industrial partners to support the recovery of the Indonesian tourism industry.
Sandiaga explained that the Eco Deals program supports the restoration of the Bukit Tiga Puluh National Park ecosystem in Sumatra. This year is the second year that the private tourism and travel service bureau has partnered with WWF for the Eco Deals project.
In 2022, the Eco Deals program raised US$150,000 (IDR2.2 billion) in five countries to raise awareness about responsible tourism and the restoration of marine habitats such as coral reefs and mangroves.
An official from one of the private tourism and travel service bureaus, Gede Gunawan, said that based on the available data, customers were very enthusiastic about this ongoing program. He added that Eco Deals also involve many hotels to participate.
“Last year we were able to contribute US$150 thousand (IDR2.2 billion), this year it increased to US$250 thousand (IDR3.8 billion). The number of countries also increased last year, only five countries and this year it has reached eight countries. Hopefully this program will help Indonesia,” concluded Gede. [photo special]