There should be reflections, discussions, object determination, planning, executions, and good evaluations."Nusa Dua (ANTARA News)- The United Nations World Tourism Organization (UNWTO) has lauded Indonesia for making a breakthrough by using the Mobile Positioning Data (MPD) to collect data on the number of tourist arrivals.
The use of MPD in tourism statistic, however, should be supported by strong researches, John Kester, director of the Tourism Market Trends Program of UNTWO, said here on Thursday.
"Strong researches are needed for us to find out our consumers, understand the current trend, and realize the ongoing competition," he stated while speaking at a workshop on the Use of Mobile Positioning Data for Tourism Statistics.
In addition to strong researches, good strategies are also needed for successful MPD application.
"There should be reflections, discussions, object determination, planning, executions, and good evaluations," he added.
Another factor that affects the use of MPD is education of the human resources.
The big data MPD to support the tourism activities is operated by Indonesias central statistic agency of BPS by detecting the cellular phones used by visitors entering Indonesian territory from several gates, including from land borders with neighboring countries.
BPS has used MPD since 2016, and it has been useful because many of Indonesias borders lack immigration offices.
Of 29 districts located in border regions, 19 lack immigration check points.
On Feb 2, 2017, Xu Jing, Regional Director for Asia and the Pacific of UNWTO, sent a letter to the Indonesian Tourism Minister lauding the country's move to use MPD.
Tourism Minister Arief Yahya noted that the MPD system has helped respond to the challenges of Indonesia being an archipelagic nation with multiple border spots.
"The data processing could be used for three P aspects, namely performance, promotion, and projection. MPD is used to measure performance, while Big Data is used for promotion and projection," he revealed.
Other countries using MPD system include Spain, Estonia, Belgium, and the Netherlands.
(Reported by Hanni Sofia S./Uu.F001/INE/KR-BSR/H-YH)
Editor: Priyambodo RH
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