JAKARTA (Bloomberg): The coronavirus outbreak is set to wipe out more than US$10 billion from Indonesia's tourism revenue this year as leisure travel comes to a near complete halt, the government said on Thursday (April 16).
The country is preparing stimulus packages for the industry and a safety net for workers to blunt the impact, President Joko Widodo said at a Cabinet meeting on Thursday. He predicted a leisure travel boom for next year after the pandemic is over, and urged the industry to prepare for that opportunity.
"Economic stimulus for businesses in the tourism and creative industry must be prepared so they can survive and don't resort to large-scale layoffs," Joko said. The revenue-loss projection assumes that tourism will recover to some degree in the second half, Wishnutama Kusubandio, minister for tourism and creative economy, told a media conference.
For the airline industry, the resiliency of Indonesia's domestic market has helped shield carriers to an extent.The government is open to adding to its US$28 billion in fiscal stimulus to fight the outbreak and is prepared to widen its budget deficit beyond the current goal of 5.07 per cent if needed, Joko said earlier this week.
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