Tag Covid-19

INDONESIA NATIONAL TOURISM DEVELOPMENT 2021 & BEYOND
Source: https://www.islandsindonesia.id/, Oct. 17, 2020

Writer: Hendra Manurung is currently doctoral candidate in international relations at Padjadjaran University, Bandung, West Java

In early April 2020, when other domestic industrial sectors have not yet experienced stagnation due to the impact of the COVID-19 global pandemic, in fact, Indonesia’s national tourism industry has already been affected badly.

Meanwhile, in mid-January 2021, when other industrial sectors also began to tidy up and move forward unfortunately Indonesian domestic tourism industry again had to hit the brakes and move backward.

Indonesian Central Statistics Agency recorded that foreign tourist visits from January to November 2020 fell by 73.6 percent on an annual basis. Although the trend of monthly visits from September to November 2020 has increased, the majority of foreign citizens visiting Indonesia are not for vacation and travel trips, but for work-related visits or on business trips.

Meanwhile, based on data from the Ministry of Tourism and Creative Economy, the decline in foreign tourist arrivals during the global pandemic had an impact on the Indonesian tourism sector, which lost foreign exchange up to the US $ 15 billion (IDR 240 trillion).

The United Nations of the World Tourism Organization (UNWTO) declares that 2020 is the worst period in tourism historical development.

Global tourism has been badly affected and it is predicted that it will take from 2.5 to 4 years to recover immediately (2020 to 2023). It is likely that the global tourism sector will experience complete recovery in mid-2024. This scenario is based on the assumption that the transmission of the COVID-19 outbreak has been successfully controlled, vaccinations are effective, and policies between countries to begin opening doors to foreign tourists.

It is recognized that the turn of the year from 2020 to 2021 has brought new hope to the international community. Vaccines become available, followed by government policies in each country announcing the availability of free vaccinations for their citizens, and countries around the world also schedule massive vaccinations.

Early December 2020, based on UNWTO data, around 70 percent of world tourist destinations have relaxed restrictions on traveling abroad and hope that the national tourism sector will begin to revive gradually.

However, entering mid-January 2021, the emergence of a new variant of COVID-19 in Britain and South Africa, as well as an increase in domestic cases that reached up to 10,000 people affected by COVID-19, made the domestic tourism industry sector again have to be patient, wait and see in the middle global economic uncertainties.

In addition to the travel restriction policy that was re-implemented by almost all countries, in Indonesia, large-scale social restrictions were also re-implemented in the country from 11 to 25 January 2021. This central government policy was prioritized in a number of areas on the island of Java and Bali, which in particular still had the status of the red zone.

Apart from the state of health and the national economy that has not yet improved, the central government continues to set its target of pursuing the development of infrastructure and infrastructure and structuring tourism areas. The Indonesian government is also targeting foreign tourist visits in 2021 to reach 4 to 7 million people. This target has been lowered previously, which reached 18 million foreign tourists.

President Joko Widodo asked the Minister of Tourism and Creative Economy, Sandiaga Uno to immediately pursue the development of five national priority tourist destinations, namely: Borobudur, Labuan Bajo, Likupang, Mandalika, Toba Lake. Indonesian Ministry of Public Works and Public Housing has budgeted an allocation of around IDR 3.51 trillion to build infrastructure.

The destination development program called the ‘5 New Bali’ is designed by the central government in Jakarta to anticipate conditions of increasing foreign tourist visits before the global pandemic began to plague Indonesia on March 2, 2020. There are criticisms related to accelerating tourism infrastructure development that should not be a top priority for the central government in Indonesia amid the spread of a pandemic that still cannot be controlled in domestic tourist destinations.

Even though the tourism industry entrepreneurs and tourism sector workers are getting worse and more in need of social and financial assistance from the government to survive amid the outbreak of the pandemic.

In the midst of a limited budget, the government needs to determine priorities and emphasize a sense of crisis.

The realistic target is to maximize the stimulus and incentive budgets for the industry as well as the distribution of cash transfers for tourism sector workers.

Based on Indonesian Ministry of Tourism and Creative Economy data, the national tourism sector absorbs 13 million workers in 2019 or 10.28 percent of the national workforce. So far, the social assistance schemes for workers are general in nature and are equalized for all sectors, not yet specific to each sector. Indonesian Ministry of Tourism and Creative Economy plans to expand the provision of direct cash assistance specifically for the tourism sector and the creative economy will soon be realized. Likewise, the provision of grants for tourism industry entrepreneurs must be evaluated and expanded to make them more effective, targeted, and efficient.

The central government and national tourism stakeholders face a difficult dilemma. The government must be faced with a choice between survival and adaptation, economic recovery, or building infrastructure and infrastructure. The position of survival and adaptation must be the top priority while being serious about suppressing the spread of the virus and holding massive vaccinations. Hopefully, gradually, the recovery of the tourism sector can be carried out in line with the pandemic control which should be kept to a minimum.

The infrastructure development project is likely to be the final stage after the tourism sector begins to recover and requires gradual reform. It is believed that the results of the construction of a large-scale tourist destination can only be enjoyed after five to ten years. The presence or absence of a massive infrastructure project does not have a direct impact on the millions of people who are now having difficulty making a living.

In Indonesia, until now, COVID-19 pandemic has presented tough test, particularly in choosing which priorities to take for policy-makers and the best benefit for entire nation.

EU VACCINATION 2020
Source: https://ec.europa.eu/

Writer: Hendra Manurung is currently a doctoral candidate in international relations at Padjadjaran University, Bandung, West Java

EU countries simultaneously initiate COVID-19 vaccination for their citizens from 27 to 29 December 2020. The push for mass vaccination has become even more urgent as the spread of cases of the global outbreak is due to the discovery of a new variant of the COVID-19 virus which originated in England a week before Christmas celebrations.

Therefore, through contextual phenomenon currently happens in the blue continent, most European countries are working to ensure that there will be access to safe vaccines across Europe, and encourages a coordinated approach of vaccination strategies for deployment of the vaccines.

The European Union has secured almost 2 billion doses of potential vaccine through six advance purchase agreements (APAs) for promising vaccine candidates, i.e.: 1) AstraZaneca: 300+100 million doses; 2) Sanofi-GSK: 300 million doses; 3) Janssen P.NV: 200+200 million doses; 4) BioNTech-Pfizer: 200+100 million doses; 5) CureVac: 225+180 million doses; 6) Moderna: 80+80 million doses (https://www.consilium.europa.eu).

Moreover, in line with the 17 June 2020 EU Vaccines Strategy, the European Commission and the Member States are securing the production of vaccines against COVID-19 through Advance Purchase Agreements with vaccine producers in Europe. Any vaccine will need to be authorized optimally by the European Medicine Agency according to regular safety and efficacy standards. Thus, all EU member states should start preparing a common vaccination strategy for vaccine deployment.

Previously, since the end of June 2020, some European Union countries have coordinated with global pharmaceutical companies to secure safe and effective vaccination for their citizens. These pharmaceutical companies have begun to apply for authorization to the European Medicines Agency (EMA), a condition they have to meet in order to deploy their vaccines on the EU’s market.  If EMA’s opinion is positive, vaccination could start just a few weeks ahead.

Thereafter, AstraZeneca as an international pharmaceutical company has a special condition with an ability to sell more in millions of doses optionally and guarantee the quantity of vaccine secured in million doses to the EU countries.

Further, a mass vaccination program began rolling out across the European Union (EU) affected COVID-19 countries on 27 December 2020 after several countries reported cases of a more contagious variant of the coronavirus. Thus, initial vaccination is given to health workers and those most at risk of contracting the disease. Most Western European and Southern European countries such as Germany, the Netherlands, Belgium, France, Italy, Portugal, and Spain have started injections in a campaign dubbed Vaccine Day or known as ‘V-Day:

Germany started its first vaccination campaign on 26 December 2020 and prioritized a small number of people in nursing homes inoculated at nursing homes in the city of Halberstadt. The German federal government plans to distribute more than 1.3 million doses of the vaccine to local health authorities starting at the end of December 2020.

Berlin plans to distribute more than 1.3 million doses by the end of 2020, and around 700 thousand doses per week starting January 2021. The COVID-19 vaccination program in Germany is free and can be implemented by every citizen starting mid-2021 once priority groups obtain it.

Hungary and Slovakia followed Germany and started vaccinating people on Saturday, 26/12/2020, a day before the vaccination launch announced by the EU.

Also, France started giving vaccines on Sunday, 27 December 2020. The country’s Ministry of Health declared that it had ordered nearly 68 million doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine from the EU. Related shipments will be made in the period of December 2020 and July 2021.

The first cases of a new variant of the coronavirus found in Britain were, according to British authorities, 70 percent more contagious. The Covid-19 mutation variant was detected in France, Ireland, and Sweden over the weekend. Fear of the new variant led Chinese aviation regulators to suspend flights to and from the UK on Sunday, 27/12/2020, until at least it lasts until January 10, 2021.

More than 40 countries, including France, Germany, Italy, Ireland, and Japan have also imposed travel restrictions from the UK. BioNTech believes that the coronavirus vaccine is expected to work against the new variant of the COVID-19 virus from the UK. But the German company says further studies are needed to fully confirm the efficacy of the vaccine it produces.

The UK government declares that it has allocated more than US$ 700 million (IDR 9.9 trillion) to ensure that lower-middle-income countries can vaccinate the continent’s most vulnerable populations.

Zimbabwe is one of the African countries that has received an offer from the British government to vaccinate 20 percent of Zimbabweans to cope with the COVID-19 pandemic (Herald, 24/12/2020). That 20 percent figure for COVID-19 vaccine assistance will cover the 3 million most vulnerable people in the country.

The Zimbabwean government plans to immediately prioritize vaccinations for frontline health workers and other vulnerable groups such as the elderly.

Zimbabwe is on the right track to becoming one of the African countries that will benefit from the international community regarding the distribution of the COVID-19 vaccine aid.

The EU’s regional vaccination campaign is coordinated on a scale unprecedented on the European continent. This step is considered important and a top priority for EU leaders and policy-makers, particularly in controlling the spread of the global pandemic, because it is given to around 450 million people in the EU. In Italy, the first dose of a vaccine developed by the United States drug-maker Pfizer and its German partner BioNTech.

Unfortunately, as of the last week of December 2020, Italy had recorded the highest death toll in Europe with 72,000, and it still has a long way to go to contain and limit the spread of the virus. A total of 9750 doses of the vaccine, which passed European regulations, have arrived in the country, which has an iconic Colosseum tourist destination. Italian Ministry of Health said that so far the dose was distributed in 20 regions.

Totally and still counting, these 27 EU countries have recorded nearly 16 million coronavirus infections and more than 353,000 deaths, according to Johns Hopkins University data. More than 1.7 million people have died worldwide. Each decision-maker in EU countries is sure to make their own decisions about who should get the first injection. Most EU leaders pledged to prioritize vaccines for the elderly and residents in nursing homes.

It is targeted that all adult citizens in EU countries will be vaccinated during 2021.

Outside the EU countries, a number of countries have also implemented mass vaccinations, including China, Russia, Canada, the US, Switzerland, Serbia, Singapore, Saudi Arabia, Oman, Mexico, Chile, and Costa Rica.

Meanwhile, the world is still currently competing to develop a Covid-19 vaccine, in which China has promised its neighboring countries in Southeast Asia to be at the forefront of meeting the need for vaccine availability after the development of vaccines in their country is ready for distribution.

A number of countries from Malaysia, the Philippines, to several countries in Africa, have been given priority access to the Chinese coronavirus vaccine. Chinese companies have also signed agreements with some of these developing countries to test and produce coronavirus vaccines. However, China’s aid has drawn many questions from world health experts that it is a diplomatic approach that can pressure other countries, particularly to support Beijing’s commercial and political interests under President Xi Jinping leadership.

It is concluded, as worldwide countries learn to live with the pandemic, the development and swift global deployment of safe and effective vaccines against COVID-19 remains an essential element in the eventual solution to overcome the current national public health crisis sooner or later.

‘Hope for the best and prepare for the worst’ by Roger L’Estrange (Seneca’s Morals, 1702).

Coronavirus: Italy bans Christmas travel between regions

Italy is banning travel between its regions from 21 December to 6 January as part of strict coronavirus curbs over the Christmas holidays.

A curfew from 22:00 to 05:00 will also be in place.

Restaurants can open in some regions until 18:00 but only takeaways are allowed in other parts of the country. Ski slopes must close until 7 January.

It comes as Italy announced its highest daily Covid death toll since the pandemic started, with 993 fatalities.

“We cannot let down our guard,” Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte told a news conference.

“We must eliminate the risk of a third wave which could arrive in January – and not less serious than the first and the second,” he added.

There will be travel exceptions for work, medical reasons or emergencies.

On top of the regional travel bans, people will not be allowed to leave their home towns on Christmas Day, Boxing Day and New Year’s Day.

The new curbs have been criticised in a joint statement by regional authorities, who say they were not consulted by the central government.

“The lack of discussion has made it impossible to balance the curbs with the needs of families,” the statement said.

Attilio Fontana, governor of the northern Lombardy region, which has reported the most cases and deaths, called the new rules “crazy”.

More than 58,000 people have lost their lives to Covid-19 in Italy.

Before Thursday, the country’s previous record daily death toll was 969 on 27 March.

The entire contents of this article are taken from bbc.com