Omicron Variant Emergence Does Not Affect The Optimism Of The Tourism Industry

Illustration (Pixabay)

JAKARTA - The emergence of a new coronavirus variant called Omicron will not affect the optimism for tourism in Indonesia in the future, said the Head of Human Resources Training at the Indonesian Hotel and Restaurant Association (PHRI), Alexander Nayoan.

"Stay positive, tourism and business will increase regardless of the form of COVID," Alexander said in an online event, Thursday.

Through the implementation of health protocols at all levels of society and the government's efforts to overcome the COVID-19 pandemic, he hopes that the emergence of the Omicron variant will not make the situation out of control. If there is an impact on domestic tourism, he hopes that the decline will not be significant and will not take long.

A spokesman for the COVID-19 Task Force, Wiku Adisasmito, said that a number of countries infected with the new variant of Omicron (B.1.1.529) implemented various mitigation measures on population mobility to anticipate a spike in cases.

"Most countries in the world, especially those that are currently increasing, immediately take anticipatory steps to prevent this Omicron variant from entering and spreading more widely," said Wiku Adisasmito when delivering a press statement on the Development of Handling COVID-19 in Indonesia, which was followed by the BNPB YouTube on Jakarta, reported by Antara, Tuesday, November 30.

The COVID-19 variant, which was first reported in South Africa, Hong Kong, and Botswana in November 2021, said Wiku, has so far infected Italy, Germany, the Netherlands, England, Australia, Canada, and Israel.

He said governments in various countries, including Indonesia, arrange travel agents, especially international travel, which aims to protect the public from the threat of exposure or bringing new variant cases into the country.

Wiku said the Omicron variant or is a mutation of the COVID-19 virus which was initially designated by the World Health Organization (WHO) as an Under Monitoring Variant on November 24, 2021, and two days later it was designated as a Variant of Concern (VOC).

According to Wiku, WHO said that the effectiveness of the current vaccine, testing, and drugs against the Omicron variant is still in the stage of further study.

"However, it is said that preliminary evidence suggests there may be an increased risk of re-infection for people who have already had COVID-19 compared to other variants," he said.

However, Wiku ensures that the information related to this is still very limited and is still in the research process.