Tourism Begins To Stretch, The Door To The Souvenir Traders In The Thousand Islands Opens Again

Souvenir Trader in the Thousand Islands (Diah Ayu Wardani/VOI)

JAKARTA - Muhammad Solihin's face returned to a smile when welcoming tourists to Untung Jawa Island, the Thousand Islands. This souvenir shop keeper on Untung Jawa Island immediately sells products in his shop to every tourist who stops by.

As is known, the COVID-19 pandemic that has hit Indonesia since 2020 has weakened economic conditions, including the tourism sector.

Since the beginning of the pandemic, tourism activity has started to decline. When the surge in COVID-19 cases hit, the Thousand Islands tourism was briefly closed along with the implementation of the Emergency PPKM in mid-2021.

Until finally, when the wave of cases began to slow down, the government reopened the Thousand Islands tourism in October 2021. The fresh air of the entrepreneurial community in the Thousand Islands began to be felt, including Solihin.

When met by VOI on Untung Jawa Island, Solihin told me that his merchandise turnover had increased again as tourists began to squirm. Within six months, the shop where Solihin worked earned a turnover of IDR 26 million.

"Actually, this figure is still far from before the pandemic, which could get a turnover of up to Rp. 40 million in six months. But, thank God, there is another income," said Solihin, Tuesday, July 12.

The souvenirs sold by Solihin are quite varied, ranging from key chains for Rp. 5,000 to miniature phinisi boats which are priced at Rp. 2.5 million.

Meanwhile, the products most often purchased by tourists are souvenirs made from shells, such as tissue boxes, jewelry boxes, curtains, to hanging decorations.

"Some of our products buy finished goods from outside. Some buy semi-finished goods, then we process them ourselves into souvenirs. Especially for souvenirs from shellfish, the ingredients are imported from outside. Because shells in the Thousand Islands cannot be taken because of conservation. Well, these shells we buy it from the rest of our consumption, then we turn it into souvenir products," explained Solihin.

As a newcomer who has lived in the Thousand Islands since eight years ago, Solihin hopes that the COVID-19 pandemic will end soon. Thus, community mobility can return to normal and tourism activities are increasingly stretched for the sake of improving the economic conditions of the surrounding population.

"My hope is that the pandemic is completely gone, so that tourism will really recover," he added.

As is known, the majority of the livelihoods of the population of Untung Jawa Island are the tourism sector. The Thousand Islands Tourism and Creative Economy Sub-Department noted that the number of tourist visits to this island was the most from the islands in the Thousand Islands. On weekends, on average there are 1,500 to tourists visiting this island.

Untung Jawa Island is also designated as a tourist village. This island has a number of tourist attractions such as marine tourism, historical tourism, culinary tourism typical of grilled fish, snorkeling, banana boating, cycling, adventure in the mangrove forest, fishing, and so on.