The National Criminal Code's Penalties for the Tourism Industry

Abstract

The number of visitors serves as a key indicator of the performance of the tourism industry, which is one of the key drivers of Indonesia's economic development. However, occasionally, tourists engage in behavior that is considered criminal in nature, for which they may be prosecuted and even punished. Additionally, Indonesia recently passed Law No. 1 of 2023 concerning the Criminal Code (National Criminal Code), which brought about several modifications to the way that punishment is conceptualized. It turns out that the tourism industry cannot take the ratification of the National Criminal Code for granted because of several contentious sections that could present risks and difficulties. It is highly intriguing to research how the National Criminal Code's concept of punishment affects the tourism industry, as these two areas are crucial to achieving community welfare. This study will go over the definition of punishment found in the National Criminal Code as well as the penalties applied to the tourism industry. This study will employ a juridical-normative approach method, meaning that the results of a literature review of primary, secondary, and tertiary legal materials will be used in the investigation of the research questions, and the results will be presented in a descriptive-qualitative manner. This research concludes that the concept of punishment in the National Criminal Code is not a threat or challenge to the tourism sector. Reforms in the National Criminal Code provide support for protecting local and foreign tourists by emphasizing the granting of rights as regulated in Article 20 of Law No. 10 of 2009 concerning Tourism, especially regarding providing accurate information and protecting security.