TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - Chairman of the Indonesian Hotel and Restaurant Association (PHRI) Hariyadi Sukamdani revealed that garbage had become a pressing issue in the country’s tourism sector.

“Tourism is often marred by garbage issues, such as the garbage in Jakarta that we have yet to figure out how to deal with, or how to process it, even though the city produces more than 10 thousand tons daily,” said Hariyadi at the University of Indonesia on Monday.

Apart from that, Hariyadi mentioned that educating the public had proven to be a difficult task, in terms of garbage issues and land and forest fires. He added these problems stacked altogether had caused Indonesia’s travel competitiveness and sustainable tourism index to drop to the last position.

Thus, he called on every element of society to collectively solve the issue and not let it be a partial issue.

Previously, the Tourism Ministry’s expert staffer on economics and tourism areas, Anang Sutono, mentioned there were three sectors that required improvement to jack up Indonesia's competitiveness at the global level: environmental sustainability, health and sanitation, and tourism services’ infrastructure.

In terms of environmental sustainability, Indonesia ranks 135 out of 140 countries. Indonesia’s health and sanitation ranks 102, while tourism services’ infrastructure ranks 98.

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