VOI - Voice of Indonesia | RRI - Radio Republik Indonesia

The current onslaught of the coronavirus may inflict a potential loss of US$2.8 billion on Indonesian tourism, Tourism and Creative Economy Minister Wishnutama Kusubandio has predicted. "Since it (the coronavirus outbreak) is still going on, we will see the extent of losses only once the onslaught has stopped. If the average number of Chinese tourists (visiting Indonesia) is two million per year, the potential loss will be US$2.8 billion," he said after a coordination meeting with the transportation minister and airline operators at the Tourism and Creative Economy Ministry in Jakarta Wednesday.

"The calculation is not as simple as what we will do after everything is over. But as we all know, the number of Chinese tourists (visiting Indonesia) reaches two million, or equivalent to US$2.8 billion in foreign exchange earnings. So the loss will depend on how long the virus outbreak will last," he said.

Normally, tourists book flights and hotel rooms from February to March for a summer vacation. "February to March is a booking period. Tourists are booking transportation and hotel rooms for the summer vacation. This will also have an impact on the summer vacation if, for instance, the coronavirus outbreak stops in April," he said.

However, the exact losses can be calculated if the impact of coronavirus is over although it will have a side effect, he added.

China tops the list of sources of tourist arrivals in Indonesia, with an estimated two million tourists and total spending of US$14 thousand per tourist, according to the Tourism and Creative Economy Ministry.

The Indonesian government has set a target of foreign exchange earnings from the tourism sector for 2020 at US$21 billion, or US$1 billion higher than the 2019 realization of US$20 billion. (ANTARA)

Director of medical services at the Ministry of Health (MOH) of Singapore, Kenneth Mak, at a media conference in Singapore on Wednesday (Feb 12), confirmed three new cases of the COVID-19. Channel News Asia has reported with the three new cases, the number of cases in Singapore has touched 50. The Director revealed two of the new cases are employees of the Grace Assembly of God church and the third person works at the DBS bank in the Marina Bay Financial Centre. The three patients have no recent travel history to mainland China.

In response to this incident, the church announced on its Facebook page that services and activities will be suspended for the next two weeks. DBS has taken precautionary measures and has asked all its employees at the Marina Bay Financial Centre to work from home. CNA reported that the bank is conducting contact tracing with all employees and any others the infected person may have come into contact with. Director Mak said the Government has identified several links to certain clusters through epidemiological and contact tracing processes.

“Several of the cases are linked to the Life Church and Missions at Singapore and this was previously announced as well. There are also nine confirmed cases that were linked to the cluster associated with Yong Thai Hang and this is associated with the tour group that had come from China. Three confirmed cases are linked to a private business meeting held at the Grand Hyatt Singapore. Two other confirmed cases are linked to a work site at Selita Aerospace Heights. Two new cases both of which are linked to Greece Assembly of God Church. We have noticed that several clusters are associated with places where people might aggregate together for activities. And this includes the church. And we would want to remind all, particularly members of the congregation or for these churches to continue to monitor themselves and make sure that they remain in good health. And if they find that they are unwell particularly with respiratory symptoms, we would encourage them then to see a doctor as soon as possible, to wear a mask on the way to see a doctor. And also, while they are not well, not to travel and carry on their normal activities," Director MAk said.

The Director said the virus transfers through droplets or contamination of surfaces. He stressed that there was no established evidence of the transfer of the virus through air and advised people to wash their hands frequently with soap and water and also be mindful of the things they commonly touch.

CNA reported the number of patients who have recovered from the COVID-19 rose to 15 on Wednesday, with six more people being discharged. South Korea and Israel have told their citizens to defer travel to Singapore, while Indonesia and Taiwan have recommended precautions to be taken when visiting the country. (CNA/VOI/SAYEE SHREE L.R/AHM)

Singapore recorded the growth of tourist arrivals and expenditure for four consecutive years from 2016 to 2019. The number of tourist arrivals last year was 3.3 percent higher than the previous year. Tourists spending also grew 0.5 percent to be more than US$ 27 billion. However Chief Executive of the Singapore Tourism Board Keith Tan said on Tuesday (Feb12) that the outbreak of new Coronavirus could stop this growing conditions. Keith Tan also said, Singapore tourism sector might go down 25 to 30 percent this year. According to him, the longer the travel ban is applied, the decline will certainly greater.

"We see now a lot of 18 to 20 thousand visitors per day and most of them are Chinese tourists. So the longer the situation persist the longer the travel restriction on place the fall will be greater. They'll be element of confidence building, they'll be element of encouraging Singaporean to come out to enjoy, they'll be element to amplify our marketing efforts," said Keith Tan.

Chinese tourists make up the largest part from the number of tourist arrivals in Singapore, reaches around 20 percent. Therefore the Singapore government hopes the Coronavirus outbreak in China will immediately stop and not be a heavy blow to the Singapore tourism sector in particular and the world in general. Meanwhile, hotel industry is currently implementing low season prices while preparing a number of recovery efforts. (VOI/NK/Edt.N)

The Multistakeholder Forestry Programme -MFP has been supporting Indonesia since 2000 to strengthen forest governance in handling illegal logging and improving livelihoods for forest-dependent people. This program is funded by the British Department for International Development –DFID. At a press conference in Jakarta on Tuesday (Feb11), Program Director of MFP, Tom Gegg said that the UK supports the agreement of Forest Law Enforcement Governance and Trade (FLEGT) action plan with Indonesia since the country is one of the biggest trading partners for Indonesia’s timber sector.

 "The UK and Indonesia final agreement that mirrors the same terms as the agreement between the EU and Indonesia and the reason we did this is because the UK has been very supportiveon FLEGT action plan, really support the reforms of Indonesia timber sector and we want to stay as part of this agreement and continue supporting after wards. So UK is one of the strongest trading partners for Indonesia in timber sector. This agreement is showing that we still committed despite our relationship with EU is changing, Tom Gegg said.

Tom Gegg moreover added that in 2016, Indonesia's timber legality assurance system, SVLK, became the first system in the world which is recognized to meet the high standards set by the European Union's Timber Regulation. This is a significant development in tackling deforestation globally. The system has collected information from nearly two decades of partnership between Indonesia and Britain to support forest governance reforms and deliver the Forest Law Enforcement, Governance and Trade (FLEGT) Action Plan// NK/Edt.N