The Bali Tourism Office now has a Bali Tourism Media Center (BTMC) Club as a place for all matters related to tourism. Inauguration of the BTMC was carried out concurrently with the launch of the Calendar of Events (COE) 2023 at the local office on Tuesday (Jan 17). It was also attended by District/City Tourism Office and tourism components in Bali such as ASITA, PHRI, GIPI as well as expert groups.

Covid-19 pandemic has been considered ended which is marked by the revocation of the status of the implementation of public activities restriction (PAR) in Indonesia by the President of the Republic of Indonesia, Joko Widodo. This condition must be responded to with an action that can accelerate the rise of Bali tourism. “There are many things we need to think about for the development of tourism in the future because the handling of tourism after the Covid-19 pandemic will be very different from what we usually did in previous times,” said the Head of the Bali Tourism Office, Tjok Bagus Pemayun.

Stakeholders must not be taken for granted or indifferent to the development of tourism that flows just as it does. In addition to maintaining the tourist attractions having been owned, we must be able to create other variations of attractions at certain times for tourists, where one of which is by holding events, both cultural events, sports events, and MICE events. “On that account, the local government as a regulator should think about how to create a conducive condition so that the communities in the district/city can create wonderful events so that it can be a variation of tourist attractions,” he explained.

In the Covid-19 pandemic period, especially in 2022, one of the significant attractions being able to attract tourists to come to Bali was an event in Bali. Each of the event was able to increase the number of visits, increase room occupancy and have a very positive impact on employment and economic impacts on the surrounding community. In 2022, there were seven cultural events included in the charisma of the archipelago event, namely the Bali Spirit Festival, the Bali Arts Festival, the Sanur Village Festival, Ubud Village Jazz Festival, Pemuteran Bay Festival, Penglipuran Village Festival, and Denpasar Festival.

Other cultural events carried out independently consisted of the Ubud Food Festival, Bali Rockin Blues, Bhineka Barong Festival, Barong Festival, and others. There were also sports events that attracted both domestic and foreign tourists to come to Bali such as Batur Trail Run, Bali Boogie, Maybank Marathon, Indonesia International marathon, Vespa Rally, Football, Golf Tournament and many more. Meanwhile, two biggest MICE events in 2022 were the Bali and Beyond Travel Fair (BBTF) and the series of G20 Presidency Summits where 150 meetings were recorded, where more than half of which took place in Bali.

For 2023, the Bali Tourism Office has recorded events in Bali and has compiled them into the Calendar of Events 2023. “Today, we are launching it together. The 2023 COE recorded 66 events consisting of 51 cultural events, 13 special interest/sport events and 2 MICE events. Actually, there are still many events that have not been recorded because of a lack of information from the organizers,” he said.

Apart from the Calendar of Events 2023, today the Bali Tourism Media Center (BTMC Club) is also launched. “I prepared this room as the Media Center for all matters related to tourism. This room is indeed designed like this and does not look formal, in fact it seems like a place to drink (Club) where this is made to suit our world of tourism tending to avoid tension in resolving a problem. In the world of hospitality, the impression of familiarity takes precedence, so that all discussions related to tourism can proceed smoothly, not formally but still produce decisions that are beneficial for Bali tourism,” he explained.

According to Tjok Bagus Pemayun, the room was built in mutual cooperation by various parties. They are the institutions or figures behind the establishment of the Bali Tourism Media Center. They have contributed both materials and ideas in building this media center. Although currently the room is not complete because there are still many facilities in need to be prepared, but for the initial stage it can already be used for activities, especially for matters that need to be published in the media as information material to be known to the public both locally, nationally and internationally. (BTN/015)