Minister of Tourism and Creative Economy Encourages Tourism Stakeholders to Implement Strict Health Protocol to Welcome the “New Normal”

Mon, 29 June 2020

As a part of Task Force for the Acceleration of Handling COVID-19, Tourism and Creative Economy Minister, Wishnutama Kusubandio, emphasizes on sense of security, wellness, and comfort the three aspects that must be maintained in order to revive the spirit of tourism post-COVID-19 situation. According to Wishnutama, those three aspects must be a benchmark to gain the trust of domestic and international tourists towards a tourism destination in the middle of a pandemic crisis. “Tourism is an economic sector that is very dependent on the trust of domestic and international tourists. Therefore, we must gain the trust in order to revitalize Indonesian tourism,” stated Wishnutama in his official speech in Media Center of Task Force for the Acceleration of Handling COVID-19, Graha Badan Nasional Penanggulangan Bencana (BNPB) Jakarta, on Monday (22/6).

Therefore, he urged all the regional stakeholders, business tourism actors, as well as the tourism communities to be able to implement a strict long-term health protocol as the requirements in preparation for the reopening of the tourism sector in Indonesia. Previously, the Chairperson of Task Force for the Acceleration of Handling COVID-19, Doni Monardo, has granted the reopening of several tourism areas gradually as the beginning of ecosystem-based and conservation activity with a low-risk level of COVID-19. The decision was made by considering the people’s demand accompanied by the well-measured and continuous preparation by the government.

According to Doni, one of the requirements of the reopening of natural tourism areas is that they must exist within the regency/city with the green zone and/or yellow zone status. The reopening of other zones will be arranged based on the readiness of the region and local area management. The tourism areas mentioned consist of marine tourism areas, water conservation areas, tourism adventure areas, national parks, natural tourism parks, great forest parks, and wildlife reserves. They also include geoparks, non-conservational natural tourism areas such as botanical gardens, zoos, tourism villages, and also community-reserved tourism areas.

“After we reopened those tourism areas, the visitors will be limited to 50 percent of normal capacity. If in the course of its development, a COVID-19 case or a violation of the provisions in the natural tourism area is found, the District/City Task Force team will tighten or close the area after consultation with the Provincial Task Force and the Central Task Force,” explained Doni.

The encouragement of the implementation of strict health protocols along with the plan to reopen tourism areas shows the commitment of the Indonesian government in fulfilling the dreams of future travel while also prioritizing the health and safety of the prospective international and domestic tourists.

(source: Indonesia.travel)