If Bali Tourism Does Not Recover, All Indonesian Tourist Destinations Will Be Paralyzed

JAKARTA - Minister of National Development Planning / Head of the National Development Planning Agency (PPN / Bappenas) Suharso Monoarfa said that if tourism in Bali does not recover due to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, all Indonesian tourist destinations can be paralyzed.

"Bali's recovery is important for national and regional tourism," he said in a virtual Pabligbagan (dialogue) with the theme of Bali Bangkit, quoted from Antara, Sunday, July 26.

According to him, two sectors that have the leverage in the recovery of the national economy during the pandemic are manufacturing and tourism.

The Island of the Gods is the heart of Indonesian tourism which contributes around 50 percent to the country's tourism sector, generating foreign exchange of nearly 10 billion US dollars from the total foreign exchange of 18 billion US dollars.

For this reason, he encouraged ministries / agencies to hold national activities or internal activities, one of which was in Bali.

Bali, the Most Instagrammed Island in the World Beating Spain's Ibiza, Instagram has now become a source of reference for traveling. Many tourist destinations have become popular thanks to being viral on Instagram. # Bali # BersamaJagaIndonesia # BersamaLawanCovid19 # ThoughtfulIndonesia pic.twitter.com/gG38OaAkWq

- Tourism & Creative Economy (@Kemenparekraf) April 30, 2020

In fact, on 2-5 August 2020, the Minister of PPN and his staff will make a working visit to the Thousand Pura Island to review the continuity of a number of major projects in the National Mid-Term Development Plan (RPJMN).

Foreign tourists, he said, also intend to visit Bali after a number of their relatives from Singapore, Australia, the Netherlands, England, and Japan intend to come to the island known as the Island of Paradise.

"Of course this is an exciting thing, there is no paranoia about this pandemic, especially now that there is an extraordinary competition to find a vaccine, of course while paying attention to health protocols," he said.

Suharso added that Bali has an advantage in tourism recovery because it is supported by infrastructure and local wisdom of its people, including the customary security system or Pecalang which plays an active role in helping supervision to reduce the spread of COVID-19.

As a result of the disease pandemic from the SARS CoV-2 virus, he continued, Bali's economy was pressured to reach below zero in the first quarter of this year because tourism visits contracted or minus 82.8 percent.

"Tourist visits to Indonesia in 2020 are predicted to decrease by 12-16 million, of course it will lose around US $ 15-16 billion in foreign exchange," he said.