TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - During the 2022 Lebaran holiday, the West Java Tourism and Culture Office recorded a surge in tourist visits to the province by an average of 84.7 percent. Unfortunately, the visits did not have a significant impact on the local MSME sector.

Head of the West Java Tourism and Culture Office, Benny Bahctiar, said a large number of tourist visits was expected to boost the income of MSMEs in tourist areas. That did not happen.

"Ironically, a number of MSMEs have informed us that the Eid long holiday had the same effect on their income levels as weekdays," Benny said.

According to Benny, most local tourists brought their own food from home, ignoring food vendors. Therefore, he said, there needs to be a policy to make tourists buy from local shops and vendors in tourist areas while implementing standardization of prices to prevent unreasonable pricing practices. "This will be discussed with regencies/cities that have favorite tourist attractions," he said.

Benny said that Pangandaran Beach in Pangandaran Regency and the Bogor Botanical Gardens were tourists' favorite destinations during the 2022 Eid holiday.

This year, West Java is targeting to record 40 million local tourist visits. In 2019, the number of tourists reached 62 million people. After the pandemic hit, that number declined to 18 million in 2020 and 28 million in 2021.

Antara

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