Jakarta - Minister of Tourism and Creative Economy/Head of the Tourism and Creative Economy Agency Sandiaga Salahuddin Uno appreciated the expansion of the "Grab Tourism Safety and Security Center in Indonesia" service which was officially presented in Jakarta and eight other cities namely Yogyakarta, Labuan Bajo, Medan, Batam, Surabaya, Bandung, Lombok, and Manado.
"I appreciate Grab (Indonesia) for its commitment to support the improvement of tourist safety and security," said Tourism Minister Sandiaga when attending the launch of the "Grab Tourism Safety and Security Center" at JIExpo Kemayoran, Jakarta, Wednesday (10/7/2024).
Indonesian tourism is currently showing high performance which can be seen from Indonesia's ranking 22nd in the Travel and Tourism Development Index (TTDI) by the World Economic Forum (WEF). Indonesia managed to outperform a number of other ASEAN countries and even several European and Asia Pacific countries.
"Therefore, we must ensure that this momentum continues in a positive trend. We must be able to overcome a number of crises, including those related to tourist safety," Sandiaga said.
The Grab Tourism Safety & Security Center is a website with a comprehensive range of information such as emergency contacts, a list of police and embassy addresses, a list of hospitals, and a 24-hour hotline for reports of sexual violence.
Available for the first time in Bali, the website can be accessed through the Grab app and by visiting grb.to/pusatkeamanamanurisjakarta, and is available in Indonesian, English, Mandarin, Korean, and will be available in other foreign languages.
"With cooperation and collaboration with the ministry, we develop strategies to overcome the various challenges faced to bring safe, comfortable and enjoyable tourism," Sandiaga said.
Together with Grab Indonesia, Menparekraf Sandiaga also encourages more interconnectivity to various destinations in the country.
"This is so that more tourists come to Indonesia," Sandiaga said.
Grab Indonesia Country Managing Director, Neneng Goenadi, hopes that this feature can make it easier for tourists in various cities in Indonesia to get faster access to emergency contacts. Starting from a special 24-hour telephone line related to sexual violence reports integrated with SAPA 129 (hotline service for Friends of Women and Children), a list of police station addresses, embassies, and hospitals.
"So it will be very easy for tourists if they need help," said Neneng.
As a ride-hailing company that is widely used by foreign and domestic tourists, Grab Indonesia has a high responsibility to help them have a safe, comfortable and enjoyable experience while in Indonesia, especially in Jakarta. This initiative is not only about improving safety and security, but also about building trust.
"In addition to launching the page, we have also taken significant steps to improve user safety and security, such as presenting an audio protect feature that can record driver-partner and user conversations, organizing Safety Training for hundreds of thousands of our Driver Partners in Indonesia, and requiring anti-sexual violence training for all driver partners," said Neneng.
Also attending the event were Singapore's Ambassador to Indonesia, Kwok Fook Seng, and Director of Destination Management at the Ministry of Tourism and Creative Economy, Florida Pardusi.