The recent improving situation of the pandemic has begun bring confidence for those in the industrial sector to bounce back into the situation before the Covid-19 outbreak. This change in conditions was anticipated by the Universitas of Indonesia’s School of Global Strategic and Studies through the launch of a tourism bookletafter the 2022 pandemic, which was compiled together with the Foreign Policy Strategy Agency of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Indonesia.
The bookletwas compiled in an effort to restore tourism and the Indonesian economy, which had declined since the beginning of the pandemic in 2020, one of which was by collaborating with countries in America. This partnership is a manifestation of the close collaboration between the government and educational institutions through scientific studies that offer solutions to current issues faced by Indonesia. The launch was broadcast virtually via Zoom and the School of Global Strategic and Studies Universitas Indonesia (SKSG UI) Youtube channel, on Tuesday (15/03).
“Tourism is very crucial, and when the pandemic starts to improve, hopefully tourism can again become the spearhead of economic recovery. As we discussed earlier during the making process of this booklet. Tourism will take a leading role (in Indonesia’s economic recovery). I think this bookletmodel can be an example for our future activities so that we can create other bookletsin an effort to contribute to the wider community,” said Athor Subroto, S.E., M.M., M.Sc., Ph.D., Director of SKSG UI.
Functional Middle Diplomat Center for Regional Policy Strategy Amerop (America-Europe) BKSLN of the Indonesian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Listyowati, explained the bookletwith the title”Indonesian tourism Post Pandemic booklet, Market Recovery, and Cooperation with the Americas: The Need for National Consolidation” was successfully compiled for six months by the drafting team from School of Global Strategic and Studies UI (SKSG UI) with the Amerop (SKK) BKLSN Center of the Indonesian Ministry of Foreign Affairs. The bookletcontains a summary of articles from the speakers at the SKK Amerop Center collaboration webinar with SKSG UI, on July 29, 2021.
“The preparation of the bookletis an important part of a series of partnerships between the SKK Amerop Center and School of Global Strategic and Studies UI (SKSG UI) which was confirmed through a memorandum of understanding of cooperation in July 2021. It is hoped that this collaboration can be beneficial for all stakeholders,” said Listyowati.
In the In the post-pandemic tourism booklet that was released, several contributors participated in its writing and preparation, namely the SKSG UI Director, UI Deputy Chancellor (Human Resources and Assets), Ministry of Foreign Affairs Officials, Kemenparekraf, and the Tourism Office, Ambassadors/Consuls/Proxy Ad Interim Enterprises (United States, Canada, Brazil, Mexico), and Academics/Heads of Research Centers in Indonesia.
According to data from the Indonesian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the condition of the global foreign tourist market has decreased in 2020 and 2021, from previously reaching 1.5 billion people to 400 million in 2020 and 415 million in 2021. Although it is declining, in 2021 there will be a positive trend in the growth of the global tourism sector. by 4%, with the American tourism sector itself increasing by 19% and Europe by 17% compared to the beginning of the 2020 pandemic.
In more detail, the impact of the pandemic on Indonesian tourism has decreased by 80% of tourism sector revenues in 2020 and caused 11.83% of tourism sector workers to lose their jobs. Plt. Head of the Indonesian Ministry of Foreign Affairs BSKLN, H.E. Dr. Teuku Faizasyah said, nearly one million workers in the tourism sector switched professions from the sector. The recovery of the tourism sector as the key to the recovery of the post-pandemic economic sector is expected to contribute to the recovery of foreign exchange and investment and grow 10 – 12% of GDP in the next 5-10 years.
“This bookletis part of the main task of BSKLN as an internal team of the Indonesian Ministry of Foreign Affairs which compiles recommendations for policy strategies and recovery of the Indonesian tourism sector through potential cooperation with potential partner countries. The launch of this booklethas the right momentum, because the tourism sector is expected to generate economic recovery in the country (especially in the post-pandemic situation). The government is also trying to reopen tourism in Indonesia,” said Faizasyah.
Bayu Kristianto, Ph.D., Head of the American Regional Studies Program, School of Strategic and Global Studies, University of Indonesia, as part of the bookleteditor team, emphasized three points of new understanding that can be gained from this booklet. First, Indonesia can learn a lot from the strategy for handling the COVID-19 pandemic in relation to tourism in the Americas, but Indonesia has a different situation and context, so it requires special strategies. This is the task of the relevant parties, such as government institutions, Indonesian representatives abroad, and academics/study centers.
Second, tourism recovery efforts must be carried out in line with improving the quality of Indonesian tourism (especially from upstream to downstream), intensification of Cleanliness, Health, Safety, Environment Sustainability (CHSE), and mapping new tourism trends that have arisen due to the pandemic. Third, there is still a lot of potential that can be extracted from the Indonesian tourism sector related to the countries of the Americas Region; further studies are needed regarding the interests, preferences, styles of tourists, as well as the inhibiting and supporting factors empirically from the arrival of foreign tourists from the Americas to Indonesia.Region
School of Strategic and Global Studies (SKSG) Universitas Indonesia (UI) is a special postgraduate program that is multi/interdisciplinary in nature with Masters and Doctoral Education Levels, while the Postgraduate Study Program which is monodisciplined is in the scope of the related faculties with the field of science. TheSchool of Strategic and Global Studies (SKSG) UI campus is located on the Universitas Indonesia Salemba campus, Central Jakarta. School of Strategic and Global Studies Universitas Indonesia is located at Universitas Indonesia Salemba Campus, Central Jakarta.
