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Holistic herbal healing to help attract tourists: Ministries
In addition to promoting new tourist destinations outside of Java and Bali, Indonesia is also introducing a wellness and herbal tourist initiative to attract foreign tourists to the country
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span>In addition to promoting new tourist destinations outside of Java and Bali, Indonesia is also introducing a wellness and herbal tourist initiative to attract foreign tourists to the country.
On Tuesday, the Health Ministry and the Tourism and Creative Economy Ministry set out guidelines for the Wellness and Jamu (herbal medicine) Tourism initiative, a new official tourist designation to attract visitors seeking wellness experiences.
Home to at least 200 types of herbs, Indonesia is a prime location for herb-based wellness treatments and jamu — a word for both local medicinal wisdom and a traditional herbal health beverage. Health Minister Terawan Agus Putranto said jamu and other traditional Indonesian wellness practices had the potential to attract foreign tourists if they were packaged better. The practices remain principally local, beyond most tourist itineraries.
“Wellness and jamu tourism is something we have to make more popular because we actually have a great jamu industry, but we rarely talk about it. For example, we have tongkat ali [longjack leaves] and purwaceng [traditional herbal aphrodisiac]. I believe if we package it well, it will attract the interest of foreign tourists,” he said during the launch of the Wellness and Jamu Tourism initiative on Tuesday.
Tongkat ali and purwaceng are types of jamu known principally for their anti-impotence effect. Terawan said Indonesia had many other interesting traditional alternative medicines such as kerokan (alternative treatment where skin is covered with oil and scraped by coins, believed to help circulation). Indonesia also has traditional massages known as pijat, which Terawan believed would attract foreign tourists.
The launch of the Wellness and Jamu Tourism initiative is part of Indonesia’s efforts to develop health tourism. Terawan said Wellness and Jamu Tourism was one of four health tourism initiatives that the government wanted to develop under the Health Tourism Road Map.
“There are four clusters [of health tourism] in the roadmap, namely Medical Tourism, Wellness and Jamu Tourism and Sport Tourism, all of which support health. The last is Medical Scientific Tourism,” said Terawan.
Wellness and Jamu Tourism has been chosen as the first initiative to be developed. Yogyakarta, Solo (Surakarta) and Semarang (Joglosemar) in Central Java have been chosen alongside Bali and Jakarta as the five pilot cities for introducing the Wellness and Jamu Tourism initiative.
In the Joglosemar area, the ministry hopes tourists will find a haven of jamu as well as many wellness treatments such as herbal spas. Bali and Jakarta hope to offer a wide range of wellness experiences for tourists such as spas, massages, relaxation therapy, water therapy and yoga.
Wellness tourism is intended to maintain, manage and improve health and well-being. Different destinations usually offer different wellness attractions, including yoga retreats, safari spas, hot springs and meditation.
Trisya Suherman, chairwoman of the Indonesia Spa and Wellness Tourism Foundation and owner of Bambu Spa, said Indonesia had significant potential in the wellness and spa industry. Trisya said Indonesia’s Balinese and Javanese spas were already considered among the best in the world.
“We are so happy that the government is finally paying attention to the wellness and spa industry. Indonesia has incredible potential in the wellness and spa industry because we have the raw material and we have the skilled manpower to do it. I believe with wellness tourism becoming a concern of government, it will be able to make the spa business boom even more and bring foreign money into the country,” she said.
According to the 2018 Global Wellness Economy Monitor by the Global Wellness Institute (GWI), the global wellness economy was valued at US$4.2 trillion in 2017, an increase of 6.4 percent from the $3.7 trillion valuation in 2015. Wellness tourism expenditure reached $639.4 billion in 2017, up from $563.2 billion in 2015. It is expected to grow to $919.4 billion in 2022.
The number of people traveling for wellness tourism has also grown significantly. The report showed that there were 830 million international and domestic wellness trips in 2017, up from 691 million trips in 2015. Indonesia ranked 17th in the top 20 global wellness tourism destinations, while Thailand, India, Japan and China ranked 13th, seventh, fifth and third respectively.
Tourism and Creative Economy Minister Wishnutama Kusubandio said the development of wellness tourism supported Indonesia’s new tourist slogan: “quality over quantity”. Wellness tourism is believed to attract tourists with more to spend.
“The unique experience that we offer to tourists is the key. With a positive and impressive experience, tourists are willing to stay longer and spend more in Indonesia,” he said.
According to GWI, wellness tourism is a form of high-yield tourism; travelers will spend more per trip than the average tourist. In 2017, the expenditure of international wellness tourists averaged $1,528 per trip or 53 percent more than the average general international tourist.
