Minister of Tourism Says WFA Policy Strengthens Tourist Movement during Holidays

Work from anywhere (Photo: Antara)

JAKARTA - Minister of Tourism Widiyanti Putri Wardhana assessed that the policy of Work From Anywhere (WFA) developed through the Work From Mall (WFM) campaign will support the movement of tourists during the Christmas and New Year 2025/2026 holidays.

"We fully support the WFA policy. This step is a strategic solution to combine the atmosphere of Christmas and New Year holidays while maintaining professional work productivity," said Widiyanti, quoted by Antara.

When accompanying Coordinating Minister for the Economy Airlangga Hartarto and a number of Red and White Cabinet Ministers at Mal Pondok Indah, Jakarta, Friday (26/12), Widiyanti explained that this campaign is also in line with the "BINA Indonesia Great Sale 2025: Shopping Tourism in Indonesia" program which offers various attractive discounts to increase people's shopping tourism interest.

The program, which runs from December 18, 2025 to January 4, 2026, involves 80 thousand outlets, 800 brands, and more than 400 shopping centers in 24 provinces with discounts of 20-80 percent.

For foreign tourists, a tax refund of 11 percent is also provided.

"The synergy between labor productivity and the momentum of national spending is expected to make a real contribution to the growth of tourism and trade economies," said Widiyanti.

Coordinating Minister for the Economy Airlangga Hartarto said that the government continues to encourage economic growth and public spending. Previously, the government together with industry also presented other programs such as Harbolnas and Every Purchase is Cheap (EPIC).

"Until the end of the year, we target around Rp. 110 trillion can be spent," said Airlangga.

He hopes that this program will further increase the appeal for tourists, including foreign tourists. Moreover, shopping tourism is one of the attractions that are interesting when tourists come to Indonesia. Several of the largest contributing countries of tourists, such as Malaysia, many of them shop at factory outlets.

"This type of shopping tourism is what we will continue to encourage so that the quality of tourism also increases," he added.

Also present at the monitoring activity were Trade Minister Budi Santoso, Minister of MSME Maman Abdurrahman, HIPPINDO Chairman Budihardjo Iduansjah, and APPBI Chairman Alphonsus Widjaja.

The ministers reviewed a number of tenants and monitored the implementation of the discount program at various shopping centers.