Ministry Works with Police to Make Travel Destinations Safe for Women

Ensuring tourist destinations in Indonesia becomes safe and friendly for female travelers is a goal that the government is striving to achieve, the Minister of Tourism and Creative Economy said. And to realize the vision, the Ministry’s working with different elements, including the police and communities.

Minister Sandiaga Uno said his Ministry has established new unit with the National Police to safeguard tourist destinations across the country to improve safety for visiting female travelers.

“To create that sense of safety, the Ministry of Tourism and Creative Economy is working with the National Police to set up special unit of tourist policemen and policewomen – as well unit to secure tourist attractions,” Uno said on Thursday, April 21, as reported by Antara.

Besides the police, the Ministry also promotes this campaign by creating a program called Sapta Pesona that seeks to educate members of the public who reside nearby tourism areas to continuously create a safe and comfortable environment for tourists, especially female travelers.

Antara also cited that in 2019, Indonesia was ranked ninth on Gallup's Law and Order Report on safest countries but got a C score in travelers Asher and Lyric Fergusson’s report of the worst and safest countries for solo female travel.

The latter created a “women’s danger index” which is based on eight factors: safety to walk alone at night, intentional homicide of women, non-partner sexual violence, intimate partner violence, legal discrimination, global gender gap, gender equality, and violence against women attitudes.