JAKARTA (BPN) – The Coronavirus pandemic has brought a severe blow to Indonesia tourism, as the international tourist visits to the archipelago have dropped significantly as of March 2020, according to Indonesia Tourism Ministry press release.
Statistics Indonesia (BPS) recorded foreign tourist arrivals in March 2020 decreased by 45.59 percent compared to February 2020 and suffered a 64.11 percent drop compared to March 2019.
The Minister of Tourism and Creative Economy/Head of Tourism and Creative Economy (Menparekraf) Wishnutama Kusubandio in a statement in Jakarta, on Monday, said, tourism is the first and most affected sector by the COVID-19 pandemic.
“Cumulatively, from January to March 2020, the number of foreign tourists visiting Indonesia reached 2.61 million visits, decreased by 30.62 percent compared to the same period in 2019 which reached 3.76 million visits,” Wishnutama said in Jakarta, Monday.
This decrease, Wishnutama continued, has been predicted considering the decisions of the Indonesian government and the government of potential market countries to close the in or out access, to prevent the spread of COVID-19.
Wihsnutama explained the ministry is currently focused to mitigate the impact of the pandemic to the tourism and creative economy sector as well as preparing programs and strategies to fight the pandemic so that the sector is ready to rise after the pandemic is over.
Therefore, Wishnutama encouraged the stakeholders of the tourism and creative economy to actively participate in fighting this situation and remain optimistic to revive the tourism and creative economy sector post-epidemic.
Previously, President Joko Widodo also predicted that there will be a tourism boom after the COVID-19 pandemic resolved.
“In the future development of tourism, we will focus on principle matters to anticipate new tourism trends and paradigms or is known as ‘new normal’ which are more concerned with sanitation and hygiene issues, for example. Including improving technological and digital approaches in the tourism and creative economy services,” he explained.
He said, the decrease in the tourism sector performance not only happens in Indonesia but also in other countries. The closure of city or state boundaries has affected flight routes so that tourism activities are stagnant.
In this pandemic situation, the Ministry of Tourism and Creative Economy has sought to participate in breaking the chain of virus transmission and ending this pandemic effort, one of which is by providing transportation and accommodation facilities for medical personnel who struggle as the frontlines.
It is also in line with efforts to help employees in the tourism and creative economy sector to remain to survive amid the struggle to fight the COVID-19.
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