Sandiaga Uno Eyes 7.4 Million Tourist Visits Next Year

TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - Tourism and Creative Economy Minister Sandiaga Uno said the government targeted 3.5 million to 7.4 million tourist visits in 2023, doubled from this year’s figure.

The World Tourism Organization (UNWTO) predicted that the tourism sector would grow by 70 percent next year compared to 2019. “So this is a very good signal after the pandemic,” said Sandiaga at the online event of The Weekly Brief with Sandi Uno on Monday, August 22, 2022.

The former deputy governor of Jakarta also added that there are many challenges such as Volatility, Uncertainty, Complexity, and Ambiguity (VUCA) including increased ticket prices after the COVID-19 pandemic. However, he believed that the right policies could accelerate the recovery of the industrial, tourism, and creative economy markets.

The ministry is still focusing on domestic tourists, instead of foreign tourists. “However, I believe that with a better visa policy, ease of connectivity, as well as more direct flights, we can achieve the 2023 target,” Sandiaga expressed optimism.

In addition, the ministry develops five super priority destinations, viz. Borobudur, Mandalika, Labuan Bajo, Lake Toba, and Likupang, through events and improves the quality of tourism through upskilling, reskilling, and new skilling for human resources.

The ministry also focuses on several superior programs such as tourist villages, creative districts/cities, and Indonesian culinary diplomacy dubbed Spice of The World which is expected to show significant progress in 2023. “So it seems that next year will be quite bright for tourism,” he remarked.

As of the third quarter of 2022, Sandiaga Uno went on, the growth curve of the tourism sector increased significantly. “We see the tourism sector begins to bounce back starting from around 350,000 tourist visits, which rose sharply by almost 2,000 percent compared to June 2022,” he said.

MOH. KHORY ALFARIZI

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