Through Travex, The Ministry Of Tourism And Creative Economy LIKEs Indonesian MSMEs To The Eyes Of The World

Menparekraf Sandiaga Uno (right). Photo: Doc. Kemenparekraf

JAKARTA - The Ministry of Tourism and Creative Economy (Kemenparekraf) held a 'Travex' which is a business forum for tourism business actors between ASEAN countries.

Minister of Tourism and Creative Economy (Menparekraf) Sandiaga Uno said Travex was one of the main agendas of the ASEAN Tourism Forum (ATF) this year which was held at the Jogja Expo Center (JEC), on February 3-5, 2023.

"So, this Travex is a tourism exchange that brings together fellow tourism business actors between buyers and sellers," Sandiaga said in his official statement, quoted on Thursday, February 2.

He said a number of programs in Travex were also an important agenda for the tourism industry and society during the 2023 run, such as the B2B "exhibitor" and "seller" sessions consisting of ASEAN NTOs, ASEAN Tourism Industries, Travel and Tourism Hospitality Industries, hotels & accommodation industries, TA/TO, as well as MICE players.

"There is also a B2C session which will be a place for direct transactions between business to customers through the Indonesian Tourism Exhibition, Culinary Festival, and the Creative Economy MSME Exhibition," Sandiaga said.

This B2C session is a historical record because it is the first in the organization.

"To stimulate sales, a free shipping promo program is also being held. Products at this exhibition can be sent to all ASEAN at no cost," said Sandiaga.

Not only that, this year's celebration will also present an art exhibition. A number of Indonesian artists' paintings and umbrellas will be exhibited to the international audience. An art exhibition in my speech, or can be called: ArTF.

TRAVEX itself presents 157 sellers and 136 buyers. Buyers are from 29 countries, including nine ASEAN countries, six Asian countries, nine European countries, five Middle East, one North American, and Australia.

"Through this TRAVEX, it is hoped that later it will not only showcase and promote tourism destinations, but also the diversity of the MSME industry and its creative economy. All of this deserves to be displayed at a moment as valuable as it is today, especially since we have a wide variety of destinations and MSME products and creative economy from various parts of the archipelago," said the Minister of Tourism and Creative Economy.

Menparekraf Sandiaga said the theme carried out in this meeting was "ASEAN: A Journey totenge Destinations".

"This theme represents the main hope of the tourism sector in developing regional and international major tourist destinations, as well as strengthening ASEAN's position as an accelerator for economic growth and job creation.

As for this year's celebration, said Sandiaga, it also marks the second time Yogyakarta has hosted it, having previously been done in 2002.

"This success will be the key to tourism development in ASEAN in the future and become a strategic momentum for Indonesia to be able to attract more foreign tourists, so that we can achieve the target of 7.4 million visits in 2023," he said.