Semarang (18/10) – Master of Public Administration, Faculty of Social and Political Sciences, Universitas Diponegoro has just held a Studium Generale with the theme of Agile and Innovative Tourism Policy in winning the competition in the VUCA Era (Volatile, Uncertain, Complex, and Ambiguous). The activity which took place on Saturday, October 15, 2022, was held through a Zoom meeting and was attended by the Chairperson of the Department of Public Administration, Dr.A.P. Dra. Tri Yuniningsih, M.Si, Chairperson of the Master of Public Administration Study Program, Dr. Augustin Rina Herawati, M.Si and Master of Public Administration students FISIP Undip. This Studium Generale by Master of Public Administration program also invited the Acting Mayor of Semarang, Ir. Hj. Hevearita Gunaryanti Rahayu, M.Sos, and the Minister of Tourism and Creative Economy, Dr. H. Sandiaga Salahuddin Uno, BBA., MBA .

In her speech, the Chairperson of the FISIP Undip MAP Study Program said that the VUCA era was a condition that quickly changed, was uncertain, difficult to predict, complex and caused confusion due to digital transformation. Meanwhile, tourism development required development policies that were strategic, innovative, flexible, adaptive, and responsive in adapting to changes so that they were able to deal with problems in different conditions. The lecturer who was known as Mrs. Rina also explained that this lecture was expected to add insight and knowledge about tourism policy.

Furthermore, the Acting Mayor of Semarang conveyed in her material that currently, Semarang was a favourite destination city compared to previously being a transit city. This was a transformation from an agrarian city to an industrial city. Then, Semarang changed again into a city of trade and services with a tagline of great trade and service city focused on tourism. This transformation has made the city of Semarang a top tourist destination in Central Java and the Country.

Rita also conveyed in her material 3 things that the Semarang City Government had done to increase tourism activities, namely adaptation, innovation, and collaboration. Regarding the target for accelerating tourism conditions, especially in Semarang, the number of tourist visits in Semarang surpassed Dieng and Borobudur in 2021 (the highest in Indonesia). According to her, the most visited destination in Semarang was the Old City. In 2022, Semarang City Government is moving more its tourism sector.

“This year, there have been many activities that attract tourists to visit Semarang. Such as the Kota Lama Festival, a series of batik exhibitions (batik day), at the end of October there will be a Heritage Run and a flower festival attended by 23 stakeholders, as well as inclusion festival activity which is in collaboration with Unesco in celebrating the international disability day” Rita explained on her presentation.

Meanwhile, Sandiaga Uno in his presentation said that the new paradigm in travelling changed after the pandemic. He advised that we must understand if demand changed, we needed to strengthen local before global. Meanwhile, touchless services, creativity and sustainability must be an integral part of our activities. Currently, he is encouraging innovation, adaptation, and collaboration in the transformation of the tourism sector.

The Minister of Tourism and Creative Economy also explained that in the last 18 months, Indonesia’s tourism development index rose eight places, better than Malaysia, Thailand and Vietnam. This was because Indonesia had priority natural, cultural and policy tourism destinations, as well as an inclusive tourism approach. In addition, foreign tourist visits to Indonesia continue to increase and are predicted to continue to grow as the pandemic is controlled and border policies are more open. Currently, the Ministry of Tourism and Creative Economy is working on a program called the 3G program, namely Gerak Cepat, Gerak bersama, dan Garap semua lapangan usaha (Fast Action, Joint Action, and Working on all business fields).