There are six health tourism sectors in Indonesia, which draw from local knowledge, that can be developed further to beat competition from other Southeast Asian nations, the Indonesia Tourism Forum (IPI) has said.
“We need to combine health tourism, medical tourism, and wellness tourism in a broader sense,” IPI patron Guntur Subagja Mahardika said here on Thursday.
Mahardika, who is also Special Staff Assistant to the Vice President, said that the six sectors in health tourism that can be developed further are: medical, food and nutrition, beauty, sport, nature, and spiritual and education sectors.
“Three neighboring countries—Singapore, Thailand, and Malaysia—have been more advanced in the medical tourism sector, but we (can) excel in wellness and health tourism with the added value of local wisdom,” he explained.
Wellness tourism refers to a special interest vacation that allows travelers to maintain their fitness levels, he said during a webinar on ‘Making Indonesia a Hub for Global Health Tourism’, organized by ISABC (Indonesia – Saudi Arabia Business Council) and the bilateral committee of the Indonesian Chamber of Commerce and Industry (Kadin).
Data from the Global Wellness Institute shows the global wellness economy has reached US$4.5 trillion, he noted. Meanwhile, last year, Data Bridge Market Research projected that the global health tourism market could reach US$269 billion by 2027, he said.
“The development of Indonesian health tourism will have a major economic impact on other sectors such as MSMEs (micro, small, and medium enterprises), transportation, culinary, creative economy, and other people’s economies,” Mahardika pointed out.
Another potential is to provide added value to halal services in health tourism, whose economic value has reached US$3.2 trillion globally, he said. Halal health tourism can be an advantage for Indonesia, in addition to the added value of local wisdom, he added.
Therefore, the COVID-19 pandemic can be a momentum for the development of health tourism by working on the potential of local wisdom found in the archipelago, he remarked.
Meanwhile, chairperson of the Indonesian Tourism Doctors Association (Perkedwi), Dr. Mukti Eka, said that Indonesia is ready for developing its health tourism, considering the ability of Indonesian doctors and tourism services, which are not inferior to other countries.
Source: Antara News
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Ministry offers trauma healing for teachers affected by Semeru
The Religious Affairs Ministry has provided a trauma healing service for Islamic school teachers affected by the recent Mount Semeru eruption in Lumajang, East Java, to boost their spirits amid the disaster recovery.
“We must keep our spirits high, and we should see to it that our pupils continue studying despite limitations that we currently faced,” the ministry’s director for Islamic School Teachers and Education Personnel, Muhammad Zain, noted in a statement on Thursday.
The director highlighted the importance of the teachers’ presence for pupils in schools and their role to inspire them.
Zain also encouraged teachers to boost the spirits of their pupils to continue studies after enduring the ordeal of the eruption.
Meanwhile, the ministry’s trauma healing team head, Mustofa Fahmi, affirmed that the trauma healing service was provided to teachers from Monday, Dec 27, 2021, to Wednesday, Dec 29, 2021.
The team head expressed hope that the trauma healing team, comprising academics, fellow teachers, and ministry staff, would boost the spirit of teachers affected by the Mount Semeru eruption.
“The trauma healing program is aimed at boosting the teachers’ spirits and teaching competency through applying a psychological approach,” he affirmed.
Earlier, Surabaya’s Airlangga University had also dispatched a team to provide trauma healing programmes for refugees affected by the eruption and the pyroclastic flows that destroyed several villages.
“The team comprised nine volunteers from the university’s students organisations,” Faculty of Medicine Dean Budi Santoso noted.
Santoso noted that after passing the three-week critical phase of the disaster, most disaster handling measures were nearly conclusion, and health care services had returned to normal.
“Our remaining duty is to help residents recover from their psychological trauma, and our trauma healing programme will boost the residents’ spirits,” the faculty stated.
Source: Antara News