Digitalization for Ecotourism Development and Promotion in the Gunung Leuser National Park, Kabupaten Langkat, Sumatera Utara in Response to Covid-19 Pandemic
A development project of the Ministry of Environment and Forestry Republic of Indonesia, in collaboration with the ASEAN Center for Biodiversity (ACB), co-financed by the Federal Republic of Germany through KfW. The project is also imlemented in collaboration with Indonesia Ministry of Tourism and Creative Economy through Politeknik Pariwisata Medan, Generasi Pesona Indonesia, and Association of Indonesia Tours & Travel Agencies.
Tourism has been one of the hardest hit industries by Covid-19 and its recovery projection remains uncertain. Taking into account the impact of Covid-19 to tourism at all level and forms by partial or fully closure, existing challenges multiplies; and there has been significant increase of destination digital transformation into a virtual experience and information. Digitalization provides solutions to the challenges of tourism during and post-pandemic. It supports the sectors in tourism ecosystem to advancing the resilience. As sustainable travel, wellness, safety and health protocols are becoming more important consideration for tourism industry than before, digitalization is an effective tool for a destination to encourage a more sustainable tourism visitation and to reinforce tourism products and destination development.
The Ecotourism Digitalization and Capacity Building Program for Ecotourism Actors consists of a series of training activities which include: (1) Tour Guiding Training (2) Itinerary and Tour Quotation Preparation Training (3) Service Excellence Training (4) Homestay Management Training (5) Culinary Training (6 ) Hygine & Sanitation Training (7) Financial Management Training (8) Social Media Management Training (9) Story Telling Training, Caption Writing, Writing Ecotourism Promotion Articles.
This project also provides facilitation (1) implementation of CHSE certification in the category of tourist destinations, (2) business matching, (3) Fam trips (4) Stakeholders Networking, and (5) Development of a digital platform that will synergize tourism and creative economy businesses in the Park Area. Gunung Leuser National Park in Langkat Regency, North Sumatra.
The Project of Digitalization for Ecotourism Development and Promotion in the Gunung Leuser National Park, Kabupaten Langkat, Sumatera Utara in Response to Covid-19 Pandemic is carried out to provide solutions to the challenges of market access, attractions linkage and to improve quality of tourism products in the GLNP Area III. The need to improve tourism marketing through technology and strengthening quality tourism products is highlighted in the Indonesia strategy which includes National Medium-term Development Plan 2020-2024, Ministry of Tourism Strategic Plan 2020-2024 and National Tourism Development Master Plan 2010-2025.
