Vaccinated Tourism Workers And Grab Drivers On The Island Of The Gods, Sandiaga Uno: Bali Is Always Inspiring

Minister of Tourism and Creative Economy Sandiaga Uno. (Photo: Instagram @sandiuno)

JAKARTA - The government continues to rack our brains to find ways to restore the tourism industry. This is because this sector has been the most affected by the COVID-19 pandemic. One way is to vaccinate tourism and creative economy actors (parekraf).

More than 5,000 workers in the tourism sector, public transportation, and Grab driver-partners, as well as delivery in Bali, started to vaccinate COVID-19 phase II at the Grab Vaccine Center located at the Bali Nusa Dua Convention Center (BNDCC).

This vaccination center is presented by Grab and Good Doctor in collaboration with the Bali Provincial Health Office and Tourism Office with supervision from the Ministry of Health.

The Minister of Tourism and Creative Economy/Head of the Tourism and Creative Economy Agency, Sandiaga Uno hopes that the first vaccination program carried out for Parekraf actors can accelerate the recovery of the tourism sector and the creative economy. Especially those in Bali.

"We want the three thousand parekraf workers who are present to get vaccines today at the Grab Vaccine Center, to be able to start a colossal step in the recovery of the tourism sector and the creative economy. This is also a concrete action in implementing adaptation, innovation, and wonderful collaboration," he said, through a written statement, Monday, March 1.

Sandiaga said that Bali tourism has always inspired the whole world, including in accelerating the implementation of COVID-19 vaccination to restore the tourism sector that is most affected by COVID-19.

"With our fast movement, our collective movement, God willing, this vaccination can be successful," he said.

Bali is the backbone of tourism

Sandi said parekraf actors in Bali were the priority for vaccine recipients. This is because the Province of Bali is one of the backbones of Indonesian tourism which is experiencing a significant impact due to the pandemic. In 2020, the fourth quarter, Bali's economic growth contracted by minus 12 percent.

"I am very happy, the hope that we conveyed beforehand can be realized and realized, namely to prioritize vaccinations for workers in the tourism sector and the creative economy of Bali by the Minister of Health," he said.

In addition, Sandi requested that tourism and creative economy actors continue to implement strict and disciplined health protocols, even though they have been vaccinated later. In addition, the 3T method, namely testing, tracing, and treatment must also be carried out to reduce the number of COVID-19 transmissions.

"And (vaccination) is the beginning of efforts to resolve the COVID-19 pandemic. For that, we must be optimistic because we have seen the bright point," he said.

Meanwhile, Minister of Health Budi Gunadi Sadikin explained that in the second stage, vaccination was intended for people whose jobs required them to meet many people, including tourism and creative economy actors. The second phase of vaccination is targeted for completion in June 2021.

"I hope this vaccination movement can be built with a good partnership like what we are doing today. The more partners who participate, the more components of the nation are involved, the more likely we can achieve herd immunity to protect our friends throughout Indonesia," said Budi.

On the same occasion, Managing Director of Good Doctor Technology Indonesia, Danu Wicaksana said that the enthusiasm of Indonesian people from all provinces is very high to receive this vaccination, including in Bali.