Minister of Tourism and Creative Economy, Sandiaga Uno, and the Ambassador of Indonesia to Greece, Bebeb AKN Djundjunan, also attended the meeting, which took place on Friday (December 10, 2021).
"I am fascinated by how the tourism sector in Greece is attracting 30 million visitors annually, and they even successfully attracted more than two million tourists in a month despite the COVID-19 pandemic," Uno said in a press statement issued on Saturday.
Greece, a country with abundant cultural and historical attractions, has been a popular tourism destination in Europe since the 1970s, the minister noted, adding that Indonesia has equal cultural and native customs and creative economic aspects that could boost tourism in the country.
He reiterated the ministry's determination to recover the national tourism and creative economy amidst the economic fallout of the COVID-19 pandemic.
The minister expressed confidence that Greece would share its secret to attracting tourists with Indonesia, and that both countries would conceive a joint program on tourism activity and promotion, as well as tourism industry capacity improvement.
"I welcome Greek tourists to Indonesia, and I invite them to visit exotic places and eco-tourism spots that we offer. We also hope that Indonesia is permitted to organize events in Greece to support the domestic creative economy in music and performing arts sectors," Uno said.
Meanwhile, the Greek ambassador also expressed his enthusiasm for the potential enhancement of bilateral cooperation between Indonesia and Greece, particularly in the tourism and creative economy sectors.
"We are convinced that the bilateral cooperation on the tourism and creative economy will have a very good prospect. I am committed to exerting my best ability for the success of this bilateral cooperation scheme," Baltas said.
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Translator: M Baqir Idrus A, Nabil Ihsan
Editor: Suharto
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