Illustrative image (Photo: AFP/VNA)Jakarta (VNA) - Indonesian Minister ofTourism and Creative Economy Wishnutama Kusubandio has revised down the numberof foreign tourists to Indonesia in 2020from 16 million to 5 million amid the spread of COVID-19.
Speakingat an online press conference on April 16, Wishnutama said his office also cut this year’s target of revenue from international tourists more than halffrom last year’s realisation of 20 billion USD.
TheStatistics Indonesia (BPS) reported on April 1 that the number of foreign travelers in the country declined by 30.42 percent to 885,100 due toimpacts of the pandemic.
The biggest decline was seen in holidaymakers from mainland China(94.11 percent), followed by those from Hong Kong (China) (93.12 percent). However, there were slight increases in the numbers of tourists from Malaysia andJapan.
Addressinga Cabinet meeting the same day, President Joko Widodo believed that there willbe boom in Indonesian tourism next year if the epidemic ends at the end of thisyear. He urged the officials to prepare to take advantage from therise of the domestic tourism sector in 2021.
He also asked ministers to prepare an economic stimulus package forbusinesses in the tourism sector and the creative economy, so that they cansurvive and not make layoffs on a large scale.
LastFebruary, the government rolled out a stimulus package worth 10.3 trillion Rp (664.51million USD) for the tourism sector in the form of discounted airline tickets to 10 majortourist destinations, incentives for airlines and travel agents and tax exemptionfor restaurants and hotels in these destinations. /.
VNA
