The number of active COVID-19 cases in Indonesia has dropped significantly in the past few weeks, urging the govt to drop test requirements for domestic travels. As businesses and public spaces reopen, Tourism and Creative Economy Minister Sandiaga Uno expected 2022 to be the year for the recovery of the tourism and employment sectors.

“We need to ensure that 2022 is the year of recovery, and we need to open more job opportunities,” he said at a virtual press conference on Thursday (Mar 10). Uno said the govt, together with all related parties, needed to ensure that the business sector will continue to run through a series of recovery efforts, Antara reports.

According to the minister, the pandemic has created a shift in tourists’ preference from mass tourist destinations concentrated in one large area to open space and smaller tourist destinations, such as tourism villages.

“Tourism villages have experienced a 30 percent increase in visitors in 2021,” he revealed.

Responding to this trend, Uno said that his ministry has adjusted to the situation by encouraging healthier lifestyle habits for the local community, training on health protocols, utilizing the PeduliLindungi application, and ensuring environmental cleanliness and food materials that meet health quality standards.

The minister expressed optimism that 2022 will be the year for Indonesia to win against the pandemic.

“And if we can collaborate, a new economy will be formed in tourism villages, which will be our driving force to create more opportunities and recover the number of jobs lost during the pandemic,” he added.

Read also: 1.6 Million Tourism Jobs in Asia Lost Due to the Pandemic: ILO