Travel Association Awaits Sandiaga's Effective Recipes To Restore Tourism Hit By Pandemic

Panorama of Lake Toba, North Sumatra (ANTARA)

MEDAN - The Association of Indonesian Travel Companies (Asita) North Sumatra said Sandiaga Salahuddin Uno's appointment as Minister of Tourism and Creative Economy (Menparekraf) was because he had a recipe for restoring the national tourism sector in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic.

"I am sure that he has a special recipe for restoring Indonesian tourism. At least it will raise domestic tourism, because the level of foreign tourist visits has stopped due to COVID-19," said Chairman of Asita North Sumatra, Solahuddin Nasution in Medan, quoted by Antara, Wednesday, December 23.

Solahuddin said Sandiaga's background was a successful entrepreneur, professional, had broad insight, and an international network, but was close to the people of the country during the 2019 Presidential Election (Pilpres) stage.

He hopes Menparekraf Sandiaga, after being appointed by President Joko Widodo, can take rescue actions for the tourism sector which is now dying of the COVID-19 pandemic.

"Visits of foreign tourists are currently not possible, because countries that have been the source of origin of tourists to Indonesia are still closing borders. They have not issued visas for tourist travel purposes," he explained.

He considers Menparekraf Sandiaga who replaced Wishnutama Kusubandio to understand better the tourism industry, especially business actors after the COVID-19 storm hit for almost a year.

"We hope that the stimulus packages released by the government in the future will be more focused and measurable. Touching all levels of service business actors in the tourism sector in improving the economy," said Solahuddin.

"The tour and travel agency business is no exception, because during this pandemic it has not received serious attention from the government," he said.