The Indonesian government has given the MICE industry the green light to start organising in-person events as long as they adhere to new and stringent protocols.
To hold an event, organisers are now required to present detailed programmes and contingency plans to authorities such as the Covid-19 task force and National Police. Organisers must also ensure their event is in line with the policy of the local government of the location the event is taking place in.
Permits will also now take longer to process, up from the initial 30 to 40 days to two months.
A dedicated help desk has been set up at the Ministry of Tourism and Creative Economy (MoTCE) to help facilitate the planning of events.
Welcoming the policy, Andreas Runkat, chairman of Indonesian Exhibition Companies Association, said a number of events are ready to make a comeback as early as this month, such as the Indonesia International Motor Show from April 15-25 in Jakarta. But he expects more in-person events to only resume from June onwards.
Moving forward, Andreas hopes that MoTCE will include business events in travel corridor arrangements with countries Indonesia is currently in talks with, to help revive the sector.
Sandiaga Uno, Indonesia’s minister of tourism and creative economy, said that MICE will be one of the government’s priorities as this will also help the tourism and creative economic sectors recover gradually.
This is as Indonesia’s MICE sector suffered a loss of some 18 trillion rupiah (US$1.2 million) due to event cancellations and postponements in 2020, he added.
