Jokowi Wants Indonesian Tourism To Surpass Malaysia, Singapore And Thailand

President Joko Widodo and Vice President Ma'ruf Amin while leading the ratas (Photo: setneg.go.id)

JAKARTA - President Joko Widodo wants an increase in the tourism competitiveness index. This is because Indonesia's ranking is still inferior to neighboring countries in ASEAN such as Singapore, Malaysia and Thailand.

"When compared with our neighboring countries, for example, Singapore is in 17th place, Malaysia is 29th, and Thailand is 31st. I think this is our record in the future in order to improve the 4 sub-indexes and 14 pillars that become the benchmarks for the world tourism competitiveness index , "said Jokowi in a closed meeting Monday, February 17, reported by setneg.go.id.

In the Travel and Tourism Competitiveness Index, it was ranked 40th in 2019. Jokowi explained that in this index Indonesia has 5 advantages over other countries, namely those related to price competitiveness, policy priorities, natural attractiveness, openness, and attractiveness. culture and business visits.

However, he continued, there are still weaknesses in the other five pillars, namely, in the fields of a sustainable environment, health and hygiene, tourism infrastructure, security, and information technology readiness.

"I think we should make these notes in our future work with measurable and clear targets," said the President.

In addition, in this meeting, Jokowi also discussed the government's efforts to overcome the impact of the corona virus or COVID-19 outbreak on the tourism sector. One of the efforts being considered by the government is the provision of discounts or incentives, both for foreign tourists (tourists) and domestic tourists (wisnus).

"Discounts or incentives for foreign tourists is 30 percent of the real rate. But later we will decide, this has not been decided yet. Maybe we will give it time for the next 3 months, for destinations which we will also decide later," said the President.

"For tourist destinations, including discounts for domestic tourists or domestic tourists, which we can also give minus 30 percent later and maybe even more for the blue travel, for example 50 percent, so that it really excites our world of tourism because indeed now there are only problems due to the corona virus, "said the President.