During the Covid-19 pandemic, Indonesia's tourism sector slumped. Various efforts have been made to revive the tourism industry by promoting tourism destinations through various festivals. One of them is holding the Karisma Event Nusantara (KEN), which is a collaboration among the Indonesian Ministry of Tourism and Creative Economy (Kemenparekraf), the regional governments, and all tourism stakeholders to improve the image of Indonesian tourism and drive the revival of the tourism sector and creative economy.
At the launch of KEN 2024 at Taman Mini Indonesia Indah (TMII) amusement park in Jakarta Saturday evening (27/01/2024), Minister of Tourism and Creative Economy (Menparekraf), Sandiaga Uno said, this event must generate financial income. He added that this year's target is to raise economic movement to reach 20-25 percent growth from last year, and he hopes it will also support 1.2 billion to 1.5 billion movements of domestic tourists in 2024. Presented under the title 'Indonesian Culture on the World Stage', the implementation of KEN, which takes place every month, is expected to generate income worth Rp 15.48 trillion (about US$979 million). There were 110 selected events recorded. Ten of these events have been declared ready to become international events which will be promoted by the Ministry of Tourism and Creative Economy through various international exhibitions, such as ITB Berlin and World Travel Market (WTM) London.
The Indonesian government's hard efforts in promoting Indonesian tourism will not attain maximal results unless supported by various parties, including the private sector and the communities. The implementation of KEN 2023 has contributed to increasing the value of production of goods and services, amounting to Rp 212.2 billion, and Indonesia's Gross Domestic Product (GDP) worth Rp 198.6 billion. The writer hopes that the growth target of increasing economic movement to reach 20-25 percent from last year can be achieved through the Karisma Event Nusantara 2024. This event which features music, culture, carnivals, and culinary delights is expected to multiply the movements of domestic and foreign tourists.
