Indonesian President Joko Widodo yesterday urged Southeast Asian countries to speed up plans to create a regional travel corridor to help revive tourism and speed up a recovery from the economic damage of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Citing UN and WTO data, Widodo said that the level of restrictions in Southeast Asia was the highest in the world. With COVID-19 cases in the 10-member ASEAN declining, those limits should be eased to allow people to travel more freely, he said.
Speaking at a regional business forum, Widodo urged immediate adoption of a regional travel corridor, a concept initiated by Indonesia last year and which would include faster immigration lanes, recognition of vaccine certificates and standardized health measures for departure and arrival, among other things.
“After 20 months of facing the daunting COVID-19 pandemic, we now see a light of hope. In the past week, COVID-19 cases in ASEAN fell by 14 percent, far exceeding the global average, which fell by 1 percent,” he told the forum organized ahead of a three-day ASEAN leaders’ summit, which starts today.
“With the COVID-19 situation getting more under control, these restrictions could be eased, mobility could be relaxed, while also ensuring that it’s safe from the risk of the pandemic,” he said.
“If all ASEAN countries immediately facilitate the safe mobility of people, the wheels of economy shall soon run again,” he said.
Intra-ASEAN travel typically accounts for about 40 percent of travel in the region and is key to reviving tourism in the region.
Some countries, including Thailand, are cautiously moving to reopen to international tourism.
Indonesia reopened its holiday resort island of Bali to foreign tourists this month after more than 80 percent of its population was fully vaccinated.
Widodo said the government would gradually open up other areas in the country where vaccination rate exceeds 70 percent.
Indonesia so far has fully vaccinated about one-quarter of its population.
Widodo called for more equal distribution of vaccines to ensure that at least 70 percent of ASEAN’s more than 600 million people are inoculated. Vaccination is uneven in the region, with Cambodia, Malaysia and Singapore moving the fastest with more than 70 percent of their population inoculated, and Myanmar at the bottom with less than 10 percent vaccinated.
Widodo said ASEAN, as the region with the fastest growth in Internet use in the world, should also expand its digital economy for growth.
The value of Indonesia’s digital economy value is expected to reach US$124 billion in 2025, or equivalent to 40 percent of the total value of Southeast Asia’s digital economy, he said.
“Our rapid steps together in handling health challenges, reactivation of safe travels, as well as acceleration of a fair digital economy, will become our common gateway to recover and advance together,” he added.
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