VOI - Voice of Indonesia | RRI - Radio Republik Indonesia

Tourism and Creative Economy Minister Sandiaga Uno highlighted that the number of workers in the tourism industry and creative economy had tripled to three million from the target in 2022.

"We only aimed for an additional of 1.1 million workers in 2022. However, the number has reached three million. This is three times bigger than our prediction," Uno noted at the Presidential Palace in Jakarta on Monday.

Thus, there were more than three million jobs in the tourism industry and the creative economy in 2022, he remarked.

He stated that increasing employment in the tourism industry and the creative economy will boost people's welfare and increase their income.

Uno had submitted a report to President Joko Widodo on Monday regarding the revival of the tourism and creative economy sectors that have been quite visible as compared to during the COVID-19 pandemic.

During the 2022 Christmas and 2023 New Year holidays, the number of tourists, both local and foreign, had increased at various tourism destinations, he stated.

"The revival has been very visible and the target for foreign tourist arrivals has been exceeded this year. From the target of 3.6 million, we have achieved 5.2 million foreign tourists. The increase is almost 70 percent above the target," the minister remarked.

In addition, the added value from the creative economy industry has reached Rp300 trillion in 2022 or exceeded the target set by the government, he noted.

Uno outlined that one of the challenges in 2023 is to increase tourism growth, albeit remaining careful of the dangers of health risks following the lifting of the implementation of community activity restrictions (PPKM).

"PPKM's revocation will bring more foreign tourists to us. We will remain on alert to maintain tourism activities that have a lot of economic impacts that can help us to recover and grow bigger in 2023," he stated.

According to the minister, after the PPKM revocation on December 30, 2022, tourist destinations were immediately thronged by tourists. He believed the decision will accelerate the revival of the tourism sector and the creative economy.

"Yesterday, the concert in Labuan Bajo was full of six thousand participants, and almost every activity in leading destinations, Bali, and five other super priority destinations were packed. This is very exciting, and we will maintain the momentum of this recovery," Uno concluded. (Antaranews)