The revocation of the Police Chief's Declaration as well as the President's Instruction to make peace with COVID-19, became a momentum for the rise of tourism. This was conveyed by Abdul Halim Iskandar M.Pd as the Minister of the Village, during his official visit in Pindul Cave, Saturday (6/27) afternoon.

Accompanied by UNY Rector Prof. Sutrisna Wibawa and the Gunungkidul official, Abdul Halim ordered tourism to be opened immediately according to thecovid-19 health protocol.

Preparation of village health protocols

To support efforts to open Pindul Cave and tourism objects, Abdul Halim revealed that the Village Ministry is preparing a "New Normal" Village Health Protocol.

This protocol will regulate how economic life and life activities in the village, adapt to COVID prevention efforts. For example farming and raising livestock while maintaining distance, and tourism with a fixed number of visitors is limited.
"The important thing is that economic activity will soon recover," added Abdul Halim.

The village health protocol is also expected to be the starting point of the village economy revival since tourism and agriculture become the livelihoods of rural communities in most places.

Setting Pindul Cave as a Tourism Pilot Project

Abdul Halim hopes the village uses digital facilities for promotion. This is important because it makes it easier for more people to access attractions.

"Digitalization is important and more effective from direct advertisement, so that what comes is more than expected," added Abdul Halim.

Pindul Cave, he said, was right to start promotion this way because it had long been a tourist attraction managed by the Village-Owned Enterprises (BUMDes) under the guidance of the Village Ministry.

"Based on the village head's report, Pindul has become a Ministry of Health Pilot Project and received 1.33 billion funds for the Pimdes program, which is used for the development of tourism facilities. This must be supported by digitalization," Abdul Halim said.

Professor Sutrisna Wibawa as the Rector of UNY said that UNY has supported and were ready to facilitate this hope. During this time, UNY has done a lot of training, workshops, and various community service programs.
"The tourism digitization program has been running for a long time in Pindul, and with the Village Campus program, which villages will be present in the community, will be more intensive," Sutrisna said. (Ilham Dary A, Tj.Lak)