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Tourism Ministry highlights sustainable tourism in coordination meeting
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Mount Rinjani in Lombok, West Nusa Tenggara. (Shutterstock/File)
T
ourism Minister Arief Yahya has continued to push for sustainable tourism on a global level. In the General Sustainable Tourism Observatory Monitoring Coordination Meeting in Lombok on April 6, all strategic stakeholders met in Lombok with the mission of garnering the world’s attention to Indonesia’s sustainable tourism.
“There are three elements in Sustainable Tourism Development: Cultural, Economic and Environmental (CEE). Up to now, only the cultural aspect has been examined, with the economic and environmental factors not yet touched on. This time the three elements must be synchronized so that tourism development does not only eliminate only poverty, but becomes the largest contributor of foreign exchange for the nation,” Arief said.
He also said tourism would be the largest contributor of foreign exchange by 2019, beating oil and gas, coals and crude palm oil (CPO).
“Indonesia has been doing well in Sustainable Tourism Development. We sit in second place, after China,” said the minister, who has been known to use the acronym ECE in place of CEE in order to prioritize the environment.
Among the attendees at the coordination meeting were I Gede Ardika, head of the Sustainable Tourism Development Acceleration Task Force and Frans Teguh, Tourism Ministry Infrastructure and Ecosystem Development assistant deputy. Heads of tourism from various provinces also attended the meeting, including Lalu M. Faozal from West Nusa Tenggara and those from Sleman. Heads of tourism representing various regencies were also among the attendees, including those from Samosir regency, West Lombok regency, Pangandaran regency and Denpasar.
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The meeting was also attended by a tourism association in Lombok as well as scholars represented by Prof. M. Baiquni (MCSTO UGM), Vinky Rahman (MCSTO USU), Muhammad Ari Perdana (MCSTO ITB), Dr. Akhmad Saufi (MCSTO Unram) and Putu Dana Pariawan Salain (MCSTO Udayana University).
The Tourism Destination and Industry Development deputy, Dadang Rizki Ratman, said, “The meeting aimed to strengthen the synergy and solidify the Tourism Pentahelix (scholars, businesspeople, community, government and media) in achieving Indonesia Incorporated.”
I Gede Ardika added, “We will monitor the progress, making our work plans and recommending follow-ups. We’ll share management knowledge on indicators and strategic issues regarding sustainable tourism practices.”
To accelerate Sustainable Tourism Development in Indonesia, the tourism ministry has already launched the Monitoring Center for Sustainable Tourism Observatories, a method used to help improve the quality of destinations.
In 2017, the ministry established five monitoring centers, the first one being the University of North Sumatra (USU) Monitoring Center, which encompasses the Samosir regency. This was followed by the Bandung Institute of Technology (ITB) Monitoring Center with Pangandaran regency as its focus of observation. Gajah Mada University (UGM) Monitoring Center observes Sleman regency, Udayana University (Unud) Monitoring Center observes Denpasar and Mataram University (Unram) Monitoring Center observes West Lombok regency.
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Out of the five monitoring centers, three (ITB, UGM and Unram) have been recognized by the World Tourism Organization (UNWTO). The monitoring centers are organized within the Wonderful Indonesia Network of Sustainable Tourism Observatory (WINSTO), which is part of the International Network of Sustainable Tourism Observatory (INSTO).
Frans Teguh said, “So far, the three [monitoring centers] have communicated and given updates and progressed on strategic issues implementation regarding sustainable tourism to the UNWTO in Madrid. The next step would be [to create] concrete programs and solutions from every party involved to increase the quality of the destinations, which have been observed by these monitoring centers.
“This is an effort from the Tourism Ministry to push the development of sustainable tourism in Indonesia. The standards we have are global standards, and they adhere to the sustainable tourism principles of the UNWTO. The long-term development is supported ecologically and is feasible in terms of economy and fair in terms of social ethics to the community. This is also an effort to invite international tourists to Indonesia, which targets to reach 15 million tourists this year and 20 million tourists by 2019,” he said. (asw)
