The Covid-19 pandemic negatively affected the tourism sector worldwide. Bandung and Melbourne are tourism centers in Indonesia and Australia that experience a decreasing number of tourists during this pandemic.
“The sector’s recovery remains uncertain. The domestic market may not return to normal until 2022, and the international market may take until 2024 to return to the 2019 level,” said Fides May Santos-Arguelles from Fides & associates, showing her analysis about tourism recovery projection in Melbourne, which is currently experiencing a decrease in the number of visitors, Wednesday (07/07/2021).
Besides, Kenny Dewi Kaniasari, the head of Culture and Tourism Development in the city government of Bandung, revealed that Bandung also experienced the same problem, the decreasing numbers of visitors during Covid 19.
Triggered by this problem, the Melbourne-Bandung Innovation Series, the result of a collaboration between SPARK Deakin, Melbourne, Bandung, and The Greater Hub SBM-ITB, hold a webinar to discuss creative approaches for tourism in this pandemic. The webinar explored how we might use creative and innovative solutions to reimagine tourism/visitor experiences to reach new audiences and revitalize the tourism industry after the Covid-19 pandemic.
This webinar involved speakers and entrepreneurs from Bandung and Melbourne and experienced innovators and experts who have built many entrepreneurial models that reinvent and restore the tourism sector, one of the largest income earners in these two cities.
One startup founder who has creative solutions for the tourism industry in this pandemic is Indra Gunawan from Bobobox. He explained that Bobobox is a capsule hotel provider, the first and largest tech-enabled sleeping experience ecosystem in Indonesia. It is committed to uplifting everyone’s sleeping lifestyle through modularity, innovative technology, and hospitality. Through Bobobox, tourists can access accommodation facilities safely and comfortably, especially during this pandemic situation.
“Imagine a world where we can embrace speed and health at the same time, instead of compromising one or the other,” Said Indra, the Co-founder of Bobobox based in Bandung.
Furthermore, Simone Dowding explained her creative approach to the tourism industry in Australia by establishing Storytowns. Storytowns showcase regional and rural towns, the folk that lives there, and local hidden gems, via location-based podcasts. The users experience real stories in real-time while traveling across Australia.
The podcasts are designed to encourage tourism, promote local businesses, and help boost the local economy. “We have 300k promo video views, and 830k Facebook reaches in 2020,” Simone highlighted to show the traction.
Lastly, Danny Smith, from SAGE GROUP, shared some innovation processes that we can follow as an approach to this pandemic situation. He said the process starts with looking for challenges, dreaming big, creating an idea, confirming possible ideas, and sharing our vision with our partner. So, through innovation and creative approaches, the tourism industry can stay resilient during any crisis, such as the Covid-19 pandemic.
