Save Bali's Economy, Which Is Still In Ruins, Sandiaga Uno Prepares Vaccine Tourism To Collaborate With The UK

Minister of Tourism and Creative Economy Sandiaga Uno. (Photo: Instagram @sandiuno)

JAKARTA - Bali's economy is predicted to continue to contract at the level of 6 to 8 percent in the second quarter of this year. The sharp decline in Bali's economy during the pandemic was caused by the drop in tourist arrivals, both foreign and domestic.

Therefore, the Minister of Tourism and Creative Economy Sandiaga Uno has prepared support ranging from vaccine tourism programs to collaboration with the UK.

Bali is one of the provinces whose economy depends on tourism and the creative economy. Therefore, Sandiaga said the vaccine tourism program aims to attract domestic and foreign tourists to travel on the Island of the Gods. However, for the initial stage, this program is intended for domestic tourists.

Furthermore, Sandiaga also admitted that he had received proposals about vaccine tourism packages from various parties, such as from travel agents or others which would later be adopted by the Ministry of Tourism and Creative Economy in the future. In fact, the tour package has become the center of attention of tourists.

"This is milling about vaccine-based tourism offers and is very tempting and becomes the center of attention of tourists. Therefore, in the concept of encouraging massively distributed vaccinations, of course, we present a vaccine-based tourism program. Especially for the first stage of domestic tourists," he said at a press conference on a daily basis. virtual, last Tuesday, June 22.

Sandiaga said, the program has received the green light from President Joko Widodo (Jokowi) and has involved Health Minister Budi Gunadi Sadikin.

"Vaccine tourism involves the Minister of Health and in the discussion, we are assigned to an internal meeting by the president," he said.

Currently, said Sandiaga, this program is in the finalization stage, although currently, the number of COVID-19 cases in the country is high.

Sandiaga said that later travelers in this package will be confirmed to be free of COVID-19 after PCR is carried out and will get the first free vaccine before leaving. After traveling when he returned, he was given a second vaccine.

"It can be vaccinated before going to Bali or during a visit. This concept is being finalized and will be announced by the Governor of Bali. I will announce it during my visit to Bali next week. God willing," he said.

Sandiaga reasoned that the implementation of the COVID-19 vaccine tour package was held in Bali, because currently, the province needs tourists because during the pandemic, tourist visits to Bali have experienced a drastic decline and have had a wide impact on the economy.

"Because Bali really needs tourists. The economy is contracting. I got information in the second quarter of 2021, Bali may be minus 6 to 8 percent and Bali is still experiencing contractions. We also hope that vaccine tourism will increase the number of vaccination programs spread," he said.

When asked about the stock of vaccines for this vaccine-based tourism program, Sandiaga explained, specifically for foreign tourists, the vaccine given was the Gotong Royong vaccine. He said, the Ministry of Tourism and Creative Economy is coordinating with the Coordinating Ministry for Economic Affairs and the Ministry of SOEs regarding this policy.

"This policy will be conveyed by the Coordinating Minister for the Economy through the coordination of the Ministry of SOEs. And the Ministry of SOEs will assign several SOEs to provide mutual cooperation vaccines in line with the opening of Bali," he said.

Strengthen collaboration with the UK

Until now, said Sandiaga, his party is trying to prepare Bali to welcome the arrival of domestic and foreign tourists. Moreover, the UK is one of the European countries which is the tourism market for Bali.

"At the beginning of my tenure, tourist visits to Bali were only 2,000 visits per day. Currently, this figure has risen to 10 thousand visits per day. However, this figure depends on the spread of COVID-19," he said.

Sandiaga said that currently, 60 percent of Balinese people have received the first dose of the Sinovac and AstraZeneca vaccines. Sandiaga also thanked the British Government for cooperating in providing the AstraZeneca vaccine supply and our target is that by the end of July 2021, 70 percent of Balinese people have received vaccinations.

In addition, Sandiaga also invited British companies to invest in Bali. Especially in the field of new and renewable energy to realize environmentally friendly and sustainable tourism.

"We also need more investment, not only in the tourism sector but also in the creative economy sector. Especially related to environmental sustainability by providing clean new and renewable energy in Bali because we have a target by 2030, Bali will become an area that is free of burning energy," he said.