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IT IS necessary to encourage the development of health tourism (wellness tourism) in Indonesia to awaken the tourism sector and creative economy in the country.
According to the Minister of Tourism and Creative Economy, Sandiaga Uno in the Weekly Press Briefing which was held virtually, Monday (9/6), said the Tourism Ministry made health tourism a flagship program targeting the empowerment of domestic tourists. Health tourism is a tourism activity that prioritizes improving health and physical fitness as well as restoring the spiritual and mental health of tourists.
“So far, domestic tourists spend almost US$11 billion more on health tours abroad. We will develop health tourism as well as fitness and herbal tourism because we have a very large market share,” said Sandiaga.
In the early stages of the development of health tourism, continued Sandiaga, the plan will be implemented in a number of areas in Indonesia, such as Jakarta, Medan and Bali.
“Later it will be expanded to other destinations. We are collaborating with various ministries and institutions as well as private parties such as hospitals, clinics, and professional organizations such as the Indonesian Tourism Medical Association to support health tourism in Indonesia,” he stated.
To test the readiness to develop health tourism in Indonesia, some time ago Sandiaga had a general medical check-up at Siloam Lippo Village Hospital, Tangerang, Banten. According to him, Indonesia has completed and adequate health facilities to support the development of health tourism potential.
“This is tourism based on quality and sustainability and we are not inferior to hospitals abroad. For example, at Eka Hospital, for spine/spine treatment, medical equipment made in Germany is used, which is the only one in Southeast Asia,” Sandiaga remarked.
In addition, said Sandiaga, Bali is also one of the targets for tourists to enjoy wellness tourism and herbal tourism. In fact, many foreign tourists visit Bali to experience wellness-based tourism and herbal tourism.
“People’s enthusiasm for herbs and wellness tourism is very high, especially in Bali. For this reason, we must improve our human resources through reskilling and upskilling programs to provide even higher standard services,” Sandiaga underlined.
Meanwhile, the Deputy for Tourism Products and Events at the Ministry, Rizki Handayani, added that the reason for choosing Jakarta, Medan and Bali as areas for developing health tourism for the initial stage was motivated by the number of available hospitals in the three areas.
“In addition, Medan has great potential because so far there are a lot of Medanese who have gone abroad. So we hope that by promoting or setting up hospitals in Medan, it is possible that tourists from North Sumatra and surrounding areas for treatment abroad will be smaller,” Rizki explained.
Besides Bali, Rizki continued, for the development of wellness and herbal tourism, his party will also develop this potential in Solo, Central Java. Solo is also developing herbal tourism because in Tawangmangu there is a herbal health center owned by the Health Ministry which has the potential for us to encourage developing herbal tourism,” she concluded. [traveltext.id]
