The Impact of Covid-19 in Indonesian Tourism

The increasingly widespread corona virus epidemic is still a frightening specter for all people of the world.  More than two months after the virus arrived, the latest update from kompas.com, a virus called COVID-19 has penetrated the 76 countries, where of 92,860 cases there were 48,252 people declared cured and 3,162 people died.  Wuhan City, Hubei Province, China, is still the city that has contributed the most victims to this day.

 In fact, when viewed from the world of tourism, so far China has indeed contributed greatly to bring in foreign tourists in the Asean region.  However, since the issue of the virus has spread, the Chinese government has banned its citizens from leaving their countries.

The world of tourism has become the first affected sector with the potential loss of national foreign exchange income reaching US $ 2 billion.  "These figures are based on simulation results based on 2019 records, there are 2 million Chinese tourists visiting Indonesia with an average stay of 6 days and spending 157 dollars per person per day," explained LIPI Economic Research Center researcher Panky Tri Febiansyah in  press release, "The Impact of the Corona Virus on Indonesia's Economic Speed 2020", on February 25, 2020.

 He explained, the assumption of this calculation can be used as a prediction for 2020 that tourists from China will delay or cancel their trip to Indonesia.

Next to Manado, Nia said the impact was felt because the biggest tourist market there came from China.  The closure of flights to and from China made tourist destinations in Manado experience the greatest impact.

It is undeniable that Indonesia's tourism world has felt the biggest impact since the emergence of the corona virus.  There are three cities in Indonesia with very few visits from foreign tourists.  The three tourist destinations are Bali, Manado and the Riau Islands.

 Reporting from Kompas.com, Deputy of Tourism Marketing and Creative Economy, Tourism and Creative Economy Agency of the Republic of Indonesia, Nia Niscaya, said the three destinations had different impacts.  If Bali has an impact on overseas (foreign tourists), because we know Bali is a choice of foreign tourism.  So not only Chinese tourists, but also tourists from other countries.

Meanwhile, Riau Islands tourist destinations are divided into two regions affected by the corona virus issue, namely Bintan and Batam.  Nia said Batam was targeting Singapore tourists, while Bintan was targeting Chinese tourists.

 The fear of traveling both domestic and foreign travel was also felt by the Indonesian people themselves.  This can be seen also from the domino effect that occurs in supporting sectors of tourism, such as hotels and restaurants and retail entrepreneurs.  Reporting from katadata.co.id, the Association of Indonesian Hotels and Restaurants (PHRI) said, the impact of the spread of the corona virus was felt by hotel, restaurant and airline entrepreneurs who had massive share and investment value.  This dynamic is said to be force majeure or an unavoidable condition.

Sumber: futuready.com