Mendes PDTT Affirms Cleanliness Is The Key To Attract Tourists To Tourism Villages

Abdul Halim Iskandar/Photo: Antara

JAKARTA - Minister of Villages, Development of Disadvantaged Regions and Transmigration (Mendes PDTT) Abdul Halim Iskandar assesses that cleanliness is one of the keys to attracting tourists to come to tourist villages.

"If the environment is clean, the toilets are clean, the food is clean, the Village-Owned Companies (BUMDes) or tourist village managers are also clean, I'm sure it will attract a lot of tourists," said Mendes PDTT in his remarks "Launching & Technical Meeting for the 2022 Nusantara Tourism Village Promotion Competition" which was followed online in Jakarta, Monday 18 July.

According to him, if the tourist village does not keep it clean, then tourists will be reluctant to come back to the tourist village.

Besides cleanliness, he added, the key to attracting tourists is hospitality.

"Well, don't let the people around the tourist village, when there are guests who come to visit, their faces frown, then I guarantee they will not come back again," said Gus Halim, as he is usually called.

Therefore, he also considers that hospitality is also an important key in the management of tourist villages.

On that occasion, Mendes PDTT also said that his ministry was again holding a tourism village promotion competition. The purpose of the competition is for all villages to compete to provide the best promotion for their village.

According to him, promotion is also one aspect that affects the fast or slow development of tourist villages.

He said the best promotion was to involve all elements of the village community to jointly create creative content related to tourism potential in the surrounding environment.

"So in an effort to help and support the national economic recovery program at the village level through tourist villages, we are holding a Tourism Village Promotion Competition virtually via the Nusantara Tourism Village application," he explained.

The competition, said the Mendes PDTT, may only be participated by BUMDes and BUMDesma manage tourist villages or who collaborate with third parties. The competition featured the highest number of likes in the July-December 2022 period.

"In this second phase, it starts from July-December. So, please use it so that our tourist villages are really recognized by as many people as possible," he said.