SINGAPORE (TVBS News) — Indonesia’s tourism industry was hit hard by the pandemic, which significantly impacted the holiday island of Bali as the number of domestic and international tourist arrivals plummeted due to travel restrictions.
“The livelihood of more then 40 million Indonesians depends on the tourism and creative economy,” Tourism and Creative Economy Minister Sandiaga Uno told TVBS commentator Wenchi Yu on the sidelines of the Milken Institute Asia Summit.
The decrease in revenue impacted a total of 13 sub-sectors within the tourism industry (hotels and restaurants, cafes, travel agents, and more), according to Minister Sandiaga, and 17 sub-sectors within the creative economy (culinary sector, the fashion, handicrafts, apps, digital economy, movies, films sectors, to name just a few).
Despite the setbacks, the tourism and creative industry have become one of the fastest growing in the post-pandemic era as Indonesia’s economy has grown at “twice the rate,” across many sectors over the past few months.
“It has been a tough portfolio over the last few years,” he said. “But as we handle the pandemic much better; we’re seeing very good numbers, and we’re aiming to create 1.1 million new job this year and in 2024, another 4.41.”
This is an ambitious agenda because the country only reopened six months ago. But Indonesia, like many counterparts worldwide, has learned to rely on domestic tourism to consolidate its domestic market during the pandemic.
“They’re coming back, but now we have issues such as inflation, high airfare prices, and G20 hotels that are readjusting their prices,” he continued. “But it’s a good problem to have, I think we can increase the capacity. And I think that we are going into a new era of tourism and creative economy that is focused on nature and culture.”
“So what we’re doing now is to shift our mindset to focus on quality and sustainability,” Sandiaga concluded. “It’s very exciting time because, well, not just the 50,000 people exoected to arrive in Bali; but also, the whole world who is gonna watch the U.S., Chinese and Russian presidents, all coming together.”
