Foreign tourists visit Baiturrahman Mosque in Banda Aceh, Indonesia. (Photo: AFP/VNA)Jakarta (VNA) – Indonesia’s Tourism andCreative Economy Ministry is focusing on programmes towards the country's economic recovery after the COVID-19 pandemic, said Minister Sandiaga Uno on March 10.
According to the minister, the government'spost-pandemic policies are directed at achieving targets in the tourism andcreative economy sectors so that they have an impact on improving thecommunity's economy and creating the widest range of job opportunities.
This year, the ministry set several targets such asattracting 3.4 million to 7.4 million international tourist arrivals, about 1.2billion to 1.4 billion domestic tourist trips, as well as improving Indonesia'srank in the Travel and Tourism Development Index (TTDI) to be at 29-35.
The country also targets to have 21.93 millionworkers in the tourism sector and 22.59 million workers in the creative economysector.
Moreover, foreign exchange earnings from tourism aretargeted to reach 2.07 billion USD to 5.95 billion USD.
The tourism sector is expected to contribute 4.1% to theGDP, and the value of creative economy products' exports is targetedat 26.46 billion USD. The added value of the creative economy is projected toreach 1,279 trillion Rp (about 82.68 billion USD).
The achievement of the targets is pursued with the 3G (Gercep, Geber, Gaspol) strategy of swift action, joint movement, andmaking the most of potential.
According to Uno, the revocation of the public activityrestrictions (PPKM) policy in December 2022 was the starting point for therevival of the tourism and creative economy sectors after the COVID-19 pandemic.
The government is encouraging tourismand creative players, mostly micro, small, and medium enterprise(MSME), to revive with digitalisation programmes and encourage MSMEs tolevel up to become corporations or legal entities.
The government is committed to improving thequality of MSME through upskilling, reskilling, and new skillingprogrammes so that they can develop their businesses, and access business andjob opportunities.
Uno said that the ministry will also continue to assisttourism and creative economy players through strengthening tourismattractiveness, incentive and promotion programmes, human resource qualityimprovement, and subsidies./.
