ASEAN countries have agreed to maximize shared digital media facilities as a means of disseminating information related to the handling of COVID-19 and the promotion of tourism in ASEAN member states through one one-gateway.

All updates on travel, tourism and measures to combat the COVID-19 pandemic from Indonesian Ministry of Tourism and Creative Economy can soon be found at www.visitseasia.travel.

The decision was reached following a proposal by current Chair of the ATTCT, Malaysia, to maximize a shared website of ASEAN tourism to disseminate COVID-19 related updates during a "Special Video Conference Meeting of the ASEAN Tourism Communication Team (ATCCT) on the Coronavirus Disease (COVID-19)" on June 4, 2020.

Content to be published on visiteasia.travel will include special COVID-19 related travel content, including statistics, travel advisory notices, mitigation efforts, new policies and success stories from each member state in handling COVID-19.

During the meeting, the Director of Inter-Institutional Relations for the Ministry of Tourism and Creative Economy (MoTCE) and Head of the Indonesian Delegation, Candra Negara, said that the focus of all ASEAN Member States is to restore tourists trust in the cleanliness and safety of ASEAN destinations.

"The world community wants to know: how strategies to handle COVID-19 are being developed by AMS. What efforts have been carried out by tourism stakeholders in each state and ASEAN to face the new normal order of tourism," Director Candra said.

Speaking on the decision to adopt the "one-gateway" approach, Agustini Rahayu, Director of Communication Bureau for MoTCE, said, "Indonesia's handling of COVID-19 is guided by the Minister of Tourism's Regulation No.10 of 2019 concerning Crisis Management. In this effort, we analyze the impact of the crisis, then followed by action. It includes enhancing channels of communication, introducing services to reassure tourists and the deployment of human and digital resources of the tourism and creative economies to tackle the crisis."

Following this approach, the Indonesian government has provided the covid19.go.id website, which is managed by the National Task Force as an official source of COVID-19 data in Indonesia. Specifically, for the tourism and creative economy sector, MoTCE also provides regular COVID-19 related updates to the pedulicovid19.kemenparekraf.go.id microsite.

In addition to the deployment of digital and communications resources, the Indonesian government, through the Ministry of Health, has also issued several health protocols for various sectors published in both paper and electronic format (mobile and desktop) as a Health Care Card for tourists.

The decision to join the "one-gateway" information scheme, further reaffirms Indonesia's role in "ASEAN's Tourism Strategic Plan 2016-2025" and the development of Indonesia's digital tourism strategy put forward by Vice Minister of Tourism and Creative Economy Angela Tanoesoedibjo during a "Special Meeting ASEAN Tourism Ministers" on April 29, 2020.