ER
THE Indonesian Government through the Ministry of Tourism and Creative Economy/Tourism and Creative Economy Agency strengthens cooperation in the tourism and creative economy sectors with Iran.
In a meeting with the Iranian Ambassador to Indonesia, Mohammad Khosh Heikal Azad at the Sapta Pesona Building, Central Jakarta, recently, Indonesia’s Minister of Tourism and Creative Economy/Head of the Tourism and Creative Economy Agency, Sandiaga Uno, said that Indonesia and Iran have historical and cultural ties. who had been awake for a long time.
“This can be seen from our historical records which mention the arrival of traders from Iran to Indonesia in the past as well as some similarities in vocabulary in Indonesian and Persian,” said Sandiaga.
Thus, Sandiaga believes that Indonesia and Iran need to continue to cooperate in the field of historical tourism by cooperating with various related parties. Cultural and historical tourism is one of our priorities in order to attract tourists from Iran to visit Indonesia.
Based on data from the Central Statistics Agency, in 2019, there were 10,440 Iranian tourists visiting Indonesia. However, this figure decreased in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic, which amounted to 1,340 tourists only.
“We hope that this collaboration can increase the number of Iranian tourist visits to Indonesia in the future after the COVID-19 pandemic,” Sandiaga stated.
In addition, Sandiaga explained the two countries also have the potential for collaboration in creative economy sub-sectors such as crafts, fashion, and architecture. Moreover, Indonesia’s creative economy sector has succeeded in contributing to a gross domestic product of IDR1,100 trillion in 2020.
“As we all know, Iranian handicrafts are works of art that have significance in the artistic industry because they have strong cultural and historical roots. So, I want to see opportunities to increase the number of trades in creative economic products between the two countries,” Sandiaga added.
Meanwhile, the Deputy for Marketing of the Tourism Ministry, Nia Niscaya, added that there is a need for webinars between Indonesia and Iran to raise awareness of the tourism potential of the two countries. “I think the webinar is very good to build public awareness of the two countries on the existing tourism potentials,” said Nia.
This was welcomed by Mohammad Khosh as an effort to recover the economy of the two countries. “I hope that with this collaboration, we can quickly rise from the COVID-19 pandemic,” said Khosh. [traveltext.id]
