Tourism Sector Still Concerns, Sandiaga Uno: Only 937 Thousand Foreign Tourist Visits In 2021

Illustration. (Photo: Unsplash)

JAKARTA - The tourism and creative economy sectors are among those most affected by the COVID-19 pandemic. Currently, the condition of the tourism sector in Indonesia is still very concerning, especially in the aspect of tourist visits or tourists.

Minister of Tourism and Creative Economy Sandiaga Uno said both foreign tourists and domestic tourists had experienced a decline this year.

"The condition of tourism and the creative economy is still in the recovery stage. Indonesia's tourism and the creative economy are experiencing a very strong contraction", he said at the 2021 National Creative Economy Meeting with the theme 'Recovery and Growth of the Creative Economy Sector' online, Monday, September 27.

Based on data from the Ministry of Tourism and Creative Economy, tourist visits in 2019 or before COVID-19 occurred as many as 16.11 million people. Meanwhile, in 2020 during the pandemic, foreign tourist arrivals fell by 75 percent to 4.05 million people due to COVID.

However, said Sandi, more worrying conditions will occur in 2021. According to him, until July only 937.75 thousand foreign tourists were visiting.

"And it hasn't shown any improvement", he said.

Meanwhile, said Sandiaga, the number of foreign tourists in 2020 is estimated to be 198 million trips, a 29.7 percent decrease compared to the 2019 BPS domestic tourist figure of 282,925,854 trips.

Meanwhile, said Sandiaga, the activity of domestic tourists until June 2021 has improved. However, it has not been maximized due to the policy of limiting community activities issued by the government.

"But again restrained by the policy of restricting mobility due to soaring cases of COVID-19", he said.

The former Governor of DKI Jakarta said that the decline in tourist visits, both foreign and domestic, caused a decrease in the tourism workforce by 6.67 percent in 2020 compared to 2019 which was 14.96 million people.

"Nearly 2 million jobs are at risk of losing their livelihoods amid the pandemic and challenges", he said.

Foreign exchange or state revenues in 2020 also fell from 2nd position after oil and gas to only US$35.4 billion, down 79.15 percent compared to 2019 of US$16.9 billion.

"This is what is called a phenomenal decline and requires policies that are right on target, right on benefits, and at the right time for this Tourism and Creative Economy", he said.