Vice President Expects Tourist Villages to create Job Opportunities

Jakarta, wapresri.go.id – Currently, villages become the starting point for advancing economic recovery after the Covid-19 pandemic. Therefore, the government continues to spur village economic movements by developing a large number of tourist villages, including halal tourist villages. By developing tourist villages, govt expects more jobs will be created, yet the environment can be still sustainable.

“Development of tourist villages is expected to create new job opportunities while maintaining the environmental balance,” hoped Vice President (VP) K.H. Ma’ruf Amin while attending the BUMN/Private Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) Program Award and Promotion of Nusantara Tourist Village at JS Luwansa Hotel and Convention Center, Jl. H.R. Rasuna Said No. 22, Kuningan, South Jakarta, Thursday (23/06/2022).

According to the Vice President, a tourist village is a form of inclusive community-based tourism, through a community empowerment approach, both the empowerment of human resources and its Micro Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs).

“The number of tourist villages that have been recorded so far is 7,275 tourist villages, based on the data from the Ministry of Tourism and Creative Economy in 2021,” he explained.

One of the essential things needed for the development of tourist villages, said the Vice President, is the awareness of stakeholders to promote the attractiveness of tourist villages as favorite destinations for domestic and foreign tourists.

“Thus, promotion is the key to developing a tourist village,” he said.

The Vice President also hopes that state-owned enterprises (BUMN) and private corporations will continue to develop CSR programs, as well as motivate the community to create innovations underpinning the development of sustainable tourist villages.

“I also ask BUMN and private corporations as well as village-owned enterprises (BUMDes) to work together to support village development. The support of BUMN and private corporations in empowering BUMDes is expected to accelerate the post-pandemic village economic development,” he added.

Village development, said the Vice President, is the center of Indonesia’s development priority in the future. According to him, if the village is strong and independent, then the dream of Indonesia Maju (Onward Indonesia) will be easier to come true.

“Therefore, the government continues to increase and improve the distribution of Village Funds and the BUMDes development program to establish more prosperous villages,” he concluded.

Regarding efforts to develop tourist villages, the Minister of Villages, Development of Disadvantaged Regions and Transmigration Abdul Halim Iskandar said that the Ministry of Villages, Development of Disadvantaged Regions and Transmigration has created a mobile application on Android and iOS called Nusantara Tourist Village.

“The Nusantara Tourist Village can check the nearest villages at our location, making it easier for us to visit one or more tourist villages at one time,” he explained.

To stimulate the promotion of tourist villages managed by village enterprises, said Halim, the Ministry of Villages, Development of Disadvantaged Regions and Transmigration held a tourist village promotion competition. This competition used a simple criterion, namely the ability of village enterprises in promoting their tourist villages through the Nusantara Tourist Village mobile application indicated by as many as “likes” from the app visitors.

“The number of 1,407 tourist villages administered by village enterprises has been placed in the Nusantara Tourist Village application,” he said. (EP/DMA/LHS-BPMI Setwapres)