Ahead Of Christmas And Year-End Holidays, Menpar Encourages Tourism Industry Collaboration

JAKARTA - Minister of Tourism (Menpar) Widiyanti Putri Wardhana invites industry players and tourism associations in Indonesia to collaborate in preparing various supporting aspects to welcome tourists on the 2024 Christmas and 2025 New Year holidays.

"We must prepare all aspects carefully in order to ensure the safety, comfort, and smooth running of tourists," said Widiyanti, quoted[from ANTARA, Saturday, November 30.

The 2024 Christmas and 2025 New Year holidays are one of the biggest moments to support the movement of tourists. Data from the Ministry of Transportation states that there will be 110.67 million movements of the community during the 2024 Christmas and 2025 New Year holidays.

"This moment provides a great opportunity for the tourism sector. I invite all business actors to ensure the readiness of accommodation, transportation, and destinations during this period, so that they can provide the best experience for domestic tourists and foreign tourists while on vacation in Indonesia," said Widiyanti.

Menpar explained that the Indonesian tourism sector continues to show a positive trend. During January to September 2024, the number of foreign tourists reached 10.3 million visits, while domestic tourists reached 757.96 million.

In addition, the quality of tourism has also increased, which is marked by an increase in the Travel and Tourism Development Index (TTDI) ranking by the World Economic Forum. Now, Indonesia is ranked 22 out of 119 countries, ranked 6th in Asia Pacific, and 2nd in ASEAN.

Although this achievement should be appreciated, Widiyanti explained that Indonesian tourism has many challenges ahead. For example, the problem of cleanliness of destinations, infrastructure readiness, and environmental sustainability issues that are still homework and need mutual attention.

Therefore, Widiyanti hopes for a strong collaboration with industry and associations as one of the stakeholders in the tourism sector.

"This is an opportunity for us to hear firsthand the challenges, ideas, and collaboration opportunities that we can build together for the advancement of national tourism. Open up opportunities for wider, intensive program collaboration, with all industry players and tourism associations," said Widiyanti.

Meanwhile, Deputy Minister of Tourism Ni Luh Puspa said that the government pays great attention to providing the best experience for tourists during the 2024 Christmas and 2025 New Year holidays. Starting from security and safety in tourist destinations, as well as illegal levies that are still found in the field.

"In the near future, the Ministry of Tourism will carry out a visit before the 2024 Christmas and 2025 New Year holidays. We will also issue circulars related to readiness ahead of Christmas 2024 and New Year 2025 and we will visit destinations including attractions to ensure security and others," said Ni Luh Puspa.

Ni Luh ensured that the Ministry of Tourism would maximize the function of Tourism Crisis Management during the 2024 Christmas and 2025 New Year holidays.

"Hopefully this can continue to be activated when there is a crisis including natural disasters and so on in tourist destinations. So later we will also ask for data support and so on," he concluded.