Universitas Gadjah Mada
Faculty of Economics and Business

The Covid-19 pandemic has had a serious impact on the tourism sector in Indonesia. The implementation of a mobility restriction policy during a pandemic certainly affects the existing operating system of the tourism sector. However, to be able to adapt to this, the use and innovation of technology in the tourism sector are expected to help the recovery of tourism in Indonesia. To discuss this further, Faculty of Economcis and Business UGM brought the theme "The Role of Technology in Tourism Recovery and Sustainability in the New Normal Era" in I-Week on Thursday (29/07).

The event invited Yulia Arisnani Widyaningsih, M.B.A., Ph.D., a senior lecturer and researcher at the Management Department of FEB UGM, to share her insights regarding this matter. The event was also hosted by Achmad Masyhadul Amin, S.E., M.Sc., as a facilitator.

Before the pandemic occurred, the tourism sector was the fourth largest contributor to Indonesia’s GDP. However, during the pandemic, there was a sharp decline in the tourism sector in Indonesia. This can be seen from the decline in international tourist arrivals in 2020. Even in the third quarter, the number of foreign tourist arrivals in Indonesia decreased by 86% on a year on year basis.

Dr. Yulia said the problem often faced by the tourism sector in Indonesia is the lack of infrastructure for these tourist attractions. Often, this triggers the high costs that need to be spent to visit a tourist spot. Therefore, to survive in the new normal, it is necessary to conduct proper marketing activities for tourism sites and attractions in Indonesia. Doing so can create and communicate value to the existing market, especially with sustainable marketing principles, such as consumer marketing orientation, customer value marketing, innovative marketing, sense of marketing, and social marketing concepts.

Technologies that can be used in the tourism sector include mobile augmented reality, Virtual Reality (VR), the Internet of Things (IoT), and wearable devices. The tourism sector can also adapt virtual tourism so that it can still provide facilities to consumers during the new normal era. The technology used in tourism can be either on-site or off-site. On-site technology can be in the form of mobile AR where when visiting tourist attractions, consumers can get a variety of visiting experiences as well as off-site technology in the form of VR experiences that can be used to provide education and promotional media.

Reportage: Zahra Dian

Webinar video: https://youtu.be/k6HO17bbXCA