Traveloka Promotes Responsible Tourism in Indonesia

Jakarta, 26 November 2019 – Traveloka, Southeast Asia’s leading travel, lifestyle, and financial services digital platform, officially announced its partnership with WWF-Indonesia, one of the oldest conservation organizations in Indonesia. This cooperation is a part of Traveloka’s strategic effort in preserving the environment, which underlines Traveloka’s commitment in realizing sustainable tourism through the program’s three main pillars; environmental, socio-cultural, and economic. The agreement signing ceremony was witnessed by the Coordinating Ministry for Maritime Affairs and Investment of the Republic of Indonesia as well as the Ministry of Tourism and Creative Economy of the Republic of Indonesia.

Sufintri Rahayu, Public Relations Director of Traveloka, stated, "According to our survey, consumers nowadays are not only looking at the product but also considering the company’s reputation. 64% of the total respondents stated that companies must initiate positive initiatives and not only waiting for the government’s plan. Most of the respondents also agreed that the companies that only focus on their business growth will not last long.”

"As a technology company that focuses on the tourism sector, Traveloka realizes the importance of the company’s role in educating related stakeholders in the industry, including the users, on the importance of sustainable tourism, hence we roll out this program. This collaboration is expected to drive our partners to implement responsible business practices, which are also aligned with the government’s tourism programs. As a start, we are confident that we will be able to initiate a concrete plan through the tangible sustainable tourism in the country,” Sufintri added.

Lukas Adhyakso, Conservation Director of WWF-Indonesia, said, "The outbound and inbound tourists traffic to several tourist destinations in Indonesia remains is one of the economic drivers and the sources of regional and national income. Nonetheless, the enthusiasm to explore Indonesia must be followed by the commitment to preserve the nature and responsibly utilize natural resources."

"This partnership is also in line with our mission to actualize the equitable and sustainable natural resource management with the aim to increase public welfare. We cherish Traveloka’s efforts in urging its partners to enhance their corporate governance beyond economic aspects and benefits, but also environmental sustainability and social responsibility. Through this partnership, we will also have a Signing Blue membership program, specifically designed for Traveloka’s hotel partners. In the near future, Traveloka users will also be able to take concrete action in preserving nature through MyBabyTree trees program. We hope that all parties are joining hand in hand in realizing the responsible and sustainable tourism," Lukas added.

Traveloka's collaboration with WWF-Indonesia includes:

1. Signing Blue: Traveloka encourages its partners to join WWF-Indonesia’s Signing Blue membership-assessment program. This program is intended to facilitate hotels in enhancing their efforts in environmental conservation, marine biodiversity, and local community empowerment. MyBabyTree: Traveloka encourages its users to join the participate using their points for goodwill. This initiative aims to protect Indonesia's forests and to improve the management of the world's forests by at least 25% to preserve biodiversity and society. Traveloka enables its users to adopt virtual trees as simple as by exchanging their reward points. The adopted trees will be planted by on critical lands by local communities with the assistance of WWF-Indonesia. Ongoing Education of Responsible Tourism: Traveloka and WWF-Indonesia will collaborate to run joint campaigns on responsible tourism through various communication channels, including Traveloka’s owned channels.

“By rolling out this sustainable program, we hope that this will help to support the growth of Indonesia’s sustainable tourism, which will boost the actualization of a tourism ecosystem that will give more added value to all stakeholders, including the government, industry players, local communities, as well as the tourists, with the goal to achieve the global target of tourism 4.0,” added Sufintri.