TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - Tourism and Creative Economy Minister Wishnutama Kusubandio set a budget amounting to Rp3.8 trillion for several national programs in a bid to recover the economy. The programs include regional tourism fund, business certification, tourism reactivation stimulant, and hotel procurement for independent isolation facilities of Covid-19 patients.

"All parties must seriously take measures in the attempt to recover the tourism industry by carrying out a breakthrough that is able to empower all industry players with the support of the fund,” the minister said in a written statement Saturday, September 26.

Wishnutama explained the tourism fund will target 85 regions or regencies and cities whose tourism and creative economic sectors worst affected by the pandemic. The fund will be used to help the regions in improving the health protocols implementation.

Meanwhile, the stimulant for tourism reactivation will be given in the form of a 50 percent discount for tour packages for the public, which will be launched once the vaccination is running.

The stimulant will also be used to prepare three-star hotels as independent isolation venues. The targeted hotels are those located in Jakarta Greater Area, West Java, and Bali.

Based on the ministry’s plan, the hotels in total can accommodate 14,000 patients for 14-day quarantine until December 2020. Wishnutama confirmed that the Health Ministry has verified 17 hotels with 3,290 beds capacity.

Read: Ministry to Focus on Tourism Economic Recovery in 2021

Francisca Christy Rosana