3 Things You Should Know About Holding InJourney Tourism SOEs That Will Have IDR260 Trillion Assets

President of the Republic of Indonesia, Joko Widodo. (Photo: Doc. Antara)

JAKARTA - The tourism sector has been hit hard and has experienced a deep contraction in the last two years. Whereas before the pandemic this sector was able to make a sizeable contribution to the national economy. Therefore, the Tourism and Supporting BUMN Holding was inaugurated to build a domestic tourism ecosystem.

Yesterday, President Joko Widodo (Jokowi) just inaugurated the merger of the tourism and supporting State-Owned Enterprises (BUMN) (InJourney) in West Nusa Tenggara (NTB). This holding has actually been formed at the end of 2021.

"And by saying bismillahirrahmanirrahim, I launch InJourney, the Tourism and Supporting BUMN Holding, today in Central Lombok, West Nusa Tenggara," he said at a press conference, quoted from the Presidential Secretariat's YouTube account, Thursday, January 13.

Here are 3 facts about the formation of the Tourism and Supporting BUMN holding:

1. Its assets will reach IDR260 trillion in 2024

SOE Minister Erick Thohir ensured that the total assets of the Tourism and Supporting BUMN Holding (InJourney) in 2024 reached Rp260 trillion.

"Looking at the figures, the total assets of this BUMN Holding in 2024 are IDR 260 trillion with the potential for increasing sales," said Erick at the launch of InJourney which was broadcast virtually, Thursday, January 13.

Erick is optimistic that the existence of InJourney will be able to create the tourism and aviation sector in an integrated ecosystem. Therefore, the Ministry of SOEs will focus the holding on domestic tourism.

"Well, I think this is an opportunity for us to evoke how to focus on local tourism and maintain foreign tourism, so please allow Mr (Jokowi) to be inaugurated," he said.

The efforts to create a domestic tourism ecosystem are also based on the current trend of decreasing the number of domestic tourists. According to Erick Thohir's notes, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the number of domestic tourists dropped significantly by 30 percent. Meanwhile, the decline in foreign tourists reached 75 percent.

"We compare it with our domestic tourist figure, which today decreased by approximately 30 percent, the figure is 330 million. If we compare between foreign and domestic tourists, it is only a figure of approximately 1.5 percent of the number of domestic tourists," he said.

2. Indonesia's tourism ecosystem is lagging behind

Erick Thohir also revealed that the tourism ecosystem in Indonesia is still lagging behind other countries. He also admits that the infrastructure that integrates one destination to another is not sufficient. In fact, Indonesia does not yet have a road map regarding travel plans (travel plain).

Because of this, said Erick, the Tourism and Supporting BUMN Holding was formed to build and create a domestic tourism ecosystem.

"When we connect it to other tourist destinations, there the strengths we don't have so far are plain travel, travel plans, which if we compare other countries we already have but if we haven't formed this ecosystem," he said.

3. Will become a mega ecosystem

Erick also ensures that InJourney will become a mega ecosystem because it is able to connect with other SOE ecosystems. For example, SOEs in the banking sector.

"That's why I like to talk to our team, this is when we talk about an ecosystem called InJourney, this is a mega ecosystem. Why? He can join other ecosystems in BUMN such as banking. one another," he said.

Furthermore, Erick said he was optimistic that the existence of InJourney would be able to create an integrated tourism ecosystem and supported by adequate infrastructure.

Erick gave an example, the airport will be conceptualized as an Aerocity. Where, an area in which there are various activities that support each other.

"So that's why we are trying to integrate all of you, both from the infrastructure and of course from the software. This means the activities in it. As explained earlier, the airport itself is not just an airport but an Aerocity which is also a lifestyle destination, which where later there will be derivatives such as food, lifestyle and others," he said.

For your information, the Tourism and Supporting BUMN Holding was officially formed at the end of last year. Holding is led by PT Aviasi Wisata Indonesia (Persero) as the parent of the holding.

The members of this BUMN holding are PT Angkasa Pura I (Persero); PT Angkasa Pura II (Persero); PT Hotel Indonesia Natour (Persero); PT Taman Wisata Candi Borobudur, Prambanan and Ratu Boko (Persero) and PT Sarinah (Persero).