Excellent service is one of the important elements that must be improved to encourage the development of tourist villagesJakarta (ANTARA) - The development of tourism villages requires the preparation of human resources (HR), the Tourism and Creative Economy Ministry has said.
"It is important to prepare tourism HR with service quality standards and capacity in this sector," the ministry's deputy for resources and institutions, Martini Mohamad Paham, said at a Travel Awareness Socialization activity in Wakatobi, Southeast Sulawesi, according to an official statement on Wednesday.
Since early 2022, the Ministry of Tourism and Creative Economy has been intensively running the Tourism Awareness Campaign 5.0, which has now entered its second leg and will continue until 2023, Paham added.
The opening of the second leg of the campaign was marked by socialization activities at priority tourism destinations in Wakatobi, Southeast Sulawesi, which included four tourism villages, namely Sombano village (Kaledupa Island), Kahianga and Kollo Soha villages (East Tomia Island), and West Palahidu village (Binongko Island).
According to Paham, the Tourism Awareness Campaign 5.0 activities are aimed at increasing the capacity of tourism actors, creating superior tourism human resources, and increasing the ability of tourism villages to develop further.
"Excellent service is one of the important elements that must be improved to encourage the development of tourist villages," she said.
It is known that after the COVID-19 pandemic, there has been a shift toward experience-based tourism and alternative tourism.
Tourism villages are considered to have excellent potential to answer to these needs, Paham said. This is because of their ability to showcase the uniqueness and characteristics of local products and regional cultural attractions, as well as provide quality services.
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Meanwhile, the ministry's directorate of tourism HR development and regional community empowerment coordinator, Desty Murniati, called for greater and more active community participation in tourism development activities in tourism villages.
"We want to increase the awareness of the village community regarding the importance of implementing Sapta Pesona, Excellent Service, CHSE (Cleanliness, Health, Safety, and Environmental Sustainability), and conflict management," Murniati informed while attending a socialization activity at Kahianga Tourism Village.
In addition, the ministry's economy associate policy analyst, Rinto Taufik Simbolon, emphasized the urgency of the hospitality aspect and the willingness of tourism HR to provide the best service to tourists.
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According to him, every tourism HR must respect and value tourists who come to visit with a positive mindset and intention.
The first stage of the Tourism Awareness Socialization, which started in early March 2022 and ended in July 2022, targeted 65 tourism villages.
The first phase has been followed-up with a series of training activities, a tourism village development project, and mentoring and appreciating the best tourism actors. The activities will end in 2023.
Meanwhile, the second stage of the socialization program will cover another 90 tourism villages originating from six tourism priority destinations (DPP): Lake Toba, Borobudur-Yogyakarta-Prambanan, Bromo-Tengger-Semeru, Lombok, Labuan Bajo, and Wakatobi. In total, 155 tourist villages will participate in the socialization program until the end of 2023.
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Translator: M Baqir Idrus A, Resinta S
Editor: Fardah Assegaf
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