Business players in the tourism sector, like hotels, restaurants, creative industries, and informal businesses, have sent 48,289 workers homeBandung, W Java (ANTARA) - The ongoing coronavirus pandemic has severely affected the tourism sector in West Java Province, with businesses sending as many as 48,289 workers home, head of the West Java Tourism Office, Dedi Taufik, said.
"Business players in the tourism sector, like hotels, restaurants, creative industries, and informal businesses, have sent 48,289 workers home," Taufik told newsmen here on Wednesday while speaking about COVID-19's economic impact on tourism.
Creative industry workers have suffered the most as 14,991 of the 48,289 affected workers were from this field, while 14,721 others were employed in the arts and cultural field.
The remaining workers comprise 12,143 hotel workers; 5,179 destination workers; 2,768 workers employed with business agencies; 1,179 restaurant workers; and, 1,107 travel agency workers, he said.
Local businessmen have taken the decision to send workers home after observing a significant decline in tourism sector-related business activities amid the COVID-19 outbreak. Owing to this, they have shut down their businesses, Taufik explained.
He said he is planning mitigation efforts at the stage of emergency response, recovery, and normalization to revive West Java's tourism sector after the pandemic ends.
On account of the outbreak of the novel coronavirus disease, the tourism sector in other provinces across Indonesia has also been severely affected, partly due to the enforcement of large-scale social distancing measures and travel restrictions.
In West Papua Province, for instance, as many as 6,823 workers have been sent home and 67 others have lost their jobs, according to head of the West Papua Provincial Government's Workforce and Transmigration Office, Frederik Saidui.
One of the sectors severely affected by the COVID-19 pandemic has been the tourism industry, which has seen many hoteliers temporarily suspending businesses, he recently said.
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Among the workers severely affected by the impact of the coronavirus pandemic are porters in the cities of Manokwari, Sorong, Kaimana, and Fakfak. They lost their jobs after state-owned ship operator PT Pelni suspended services, he stated.
The coronavirus disease, which initially struck the Chinese city of Wuhan at the end of 2019, has since spread to at least 202 countries and territories, including Indonesia, with a massive increase in death toll.
The Indonesian Government officially announced the country's first confirmed cases on March 2 this year. The ongoing pandemic has weakened the purchasing power of scores of Indonesian families, particularly those who have lost their jobs.
To break the chain of transmission, large-scale social restrictions have been applied in several cities, including Jakarta, Bogor, Depok, Tangerang, and Bekasi.
The central government has also banned homebound travel, locally known as "mudik", during the fasting month of Ramadhan and the Idul Fitri holiday season. (INE)
EDITED BY INE
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Translator: Ajat S, Rahmad Nasution
Editor: Fardah Assegaf
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