Indonesia imposes new health protocols on tourism destinations

Indonesian Tourism and Creative Economy Ministry has prepared health protocols called the program of cleanliness, health and safety (CHS), that will be imposed on tourism destinations during a new normal scenario in a bid to protect tourists from COVID-19 infection and stop imported coronavirus cases.

New protocols will make tourism destinations comply with health criteria required under the new normal scenario implementation, the ministry’s spokesman Ari Julianto said.

The stride came as the novel coronavirus pandemic has been open for the change of the global tourism trend to a paradigm which puts health, hygiene, safety and security on the top priority during traveling.

The CHS rules include spraying rooms with disinfectant, availability of hand washing facilities, body temperature checks and using face masks, according to him.

Meanwhile, Indonesian President Joko Widodo on Thursday told a limited cabinet meeting that stakeholders in the tourism sector should be encouraged to respond to the change of the global tourism trend, make innovations and improvements, and adapt to the change of paradigm which is likely to appear in the global tourism trend.

“As the main issue is safety and health, the protocols of the new normal in the tourism sector must fully comply with it, starting from the tight protocols in transports, hotel facilities, restaurants and tourism destinations,” he said.

“In comparison, I have seen other countries prepare this under a new normal in the tourism sector,” he added.

To ensure that the protocols to be well implemented, the president ordered a massive socialization of the plan followed by simulations under supervision in the fields.

“Because the risk is high, once an imported case occurs along with its health impacts, the image of poor tourism would be created so that it would be difficult to restore it,” he said.

Several areas are ready with a new normal scenario after the planned termination of partial lockdowns in some provinces on June 5, Chief Economic Minister Airlangga Hartarto said.

The Indonesian tourism sector has been dashed by the virus pandemic which has also been ravaging airlines, hotels and other tourism facilities as the partial lockdowns cast millions of travelers cooped up for weeks leading to layoffs.

This year, the number of foreign travelers visiting Indonesia was expected to tumble by 13 percent from that of last year when the figure was recorded at 16.11 million, according to the Tourism and Creative Economy Ministry.

#rebuildingtravel