Minister of State-Owned Enterprises (BUMN) Erick Thohir said there was a commitment investment from Qatar amounting to 80 million US dollars to build a hotel in Labuan Bajo, East Nusa Tenggara (NTT). The acquisition is in the context of the success of the 2023 ASEAN Summit held in Labuan Bajo.
“We encouraged this commitment when we went to Doha, Qatar some time ago,” said Erick. After President Joko Widodo decided that Labuan Bajo would be the main venue for the 2023 ASEAN Summit, a tourist destination in this area continues to be encouraged. Not only in terms of infrastructure alias hardware, but Erick also explained from the software side that is organizing various events encouraged promoting tourism.
This is the same as tourism in Bali which was encouraged through the holding of the 2022 G20 Summit some time ago so that the island’s economy can grow.
As for infrastructure development in Labuan Bajo, it was delayed due to COVID-19 so with the holding of the Summit ASEAN 2023 infrastructure development will be pushed back. He said infrastructure development in Labuan Bajo was carried out, among others, by repairing the airport and port construction by PT Pelabuhan Indonesia (Persero) or Pelindo.
“We are also pushing for the construction of docks and hotels, but don’t state-owned enterprises continue to build and invest. I hope that the private sector can also encourage investment,” he added.
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Ministry Conducts BTF for Certified Talent in Labuan Bajo
Ministry of Tourism and Creative Economy (Kemenparekraf) through the Development Directorate Tourism Human Resources organizes the Biannual Tourism Forum (BTF) to organize staff certification tourism work at the Labuan Bajo Super Priority Tourism Destination, West Manggarai, East Nusa Tenggara.
“The readiness of human resources plays a role as the main driving force for the continuity of the tourism industry. That way the competence and quality of tourism actors also need to be continuously improved,” said the Director of Competency Standardization Ministry of Tourism and Creative Economy, Titi Lestari in Labuan Bajo.
The BTF which was held in Labuan Bajo raised the theme of Increasing Tourism HR Capacity in Support Integrated and Sustainable Tourism Development Program (P3TB). There are four areas of tourism that are the focus of discussion on competency tests in order to ensure the availability of skilled workforce in the tourism sector, namely HR certification in the Tourism Travel Bureau, Scouting Sector, Hotel and Restaurant Sector, and SPA Sector.
Titi explained that there was a shift in the trend of tourist behavior patterns that lead to quality tourism.
In this trend, the demands of tourists to gain experience when traveling are getting higher. This is also closely related to the readiness of human resources in the field of tourism. Seeing the current development of Labuan Bajo tourism, he continued, certification is a mandatory requirement for workers working in the tourism sector so that it can be a security guarantee.
“In addition, there is a form of fulfilling service quality standards for tourists because there is a guarantee of competence from the perpetrator’s tourism,” he explained.
Meanwhile, the Head of the West Manggarai Tourism, Creative Economy and Culture Office, Pius Baut said the Infrastructure development that occurred in Labuan Bajo is an effort to improve the welfare of the community. Therefore, in addition to structuring infrastructure, it is necessary to increase competent human resources, especially actors tourists.
“Certification of tourism actors is a quality standard for human resources that we are currently pursuing,” he said. The Integrated and Sustainable Tourism Development Program (P3TB) is a sustainable program that has been held by the Ministry of Tourism and Creative Economy since 2019 in collaboration with the World Bank with an emphasis on Development HR with a focus on Increasing Local Participation in the Tourism Economy.
For the Labuan Bajo area itself, there are 1,600 certified people in four fields of the total target of 6,900 people. “We hope that in the future our tourism human resources will become one of the tourism products that will strengthen Labuan Bajo in Indonesia,” said Pius optimistically.
