The Covid-19 pandemic has become a nightmare for various sectors in Indonesia, social restriction efforts to reduce the spread of the virus have become a serious problem for various sectors, including the tourism sector as one of the most affected sectors. Covid-19 has forced the tourism sector to adapt in response to the existing challenges.

Today, virtual tour activities have emerged as an alternative to traveling in the pandemic era. Activities that are carried out virtually, open up new opportunities to explore various places and enjoy the beauty of destinations in Indonesia. This online activity initiative was also carried out by the Ministry of Tourism and Creative Economy together with Traval.co and Caventer Indonesia, through the Virtual Tourism Village Program in January-February 2021, this activity was carried out through the Zoom application and also live broadcast via YouTube.

The Virtual Tourism Village tour program is a series of 10 virtual tours of tourist villages with the title "Virtual Indonesia: A hidden paradise". This virtual tour program is carried out to raise the potential of regional tourism in the midst of the Covid-19 pandemic, which of course is packaged in an interesting and educational way. One of the destinations explored virtually is the Kei Islands located in Maluku. Ngilngof Village in the Kei Islands showed the charm of the natural beauty and culture of its coastal village on Saturday, February 27, 2021. To date, the virtual tour of Ngilngof Village in the Kei Islands has been viewed nearly 3,000 times. Previously, a similar virtual tour was conducted that invited tourists to visit virtually various destinations in Alor, East Nusa Tenggara.

The virtual tour is guided by Fitri Ningrum from Caventer Indonesia and Eddy Surbakty from Pesonadesa.id as well as Ronald as a local tourism activist of Ngilngof Village who takes the audience around the destination directly by showing cultural attractions, explaining the history of Kei, and the natural beauty of Kei.

The virtual tour opened with a performance of the Sawat Pancing dance, which is a tradition of Ngilngof Village. After watching the Sawat Pancing dance, Ronald invited the audience to get to know more about the Kei islands' tourism icon, the Santa Maria Catholic Church.

After a walk around the icon, the audience was invited to explore the beauty of Yeanroa beach surrounded by mangrove forest with Jay and Hasna, who are also one of the Kei tourism activists and managers. On this occasion, Jay and Hasna also explained the history and complete information about Yenroa beach. Activities that tourists can do when visiting Yenroa Beach are planting mangrove trees, traveling around the mangrove forest by canoe, enjoying Kei specialties, and experiencing the experience of staying in cottages that are on the water and surrounded by mangrove forests. The destination also has a dive center that provides diving and snorkeling services, so tourists who come can taste the beautiful underwater scenery of the exotic Kei islands.

After visiting Yeanroa Beach with Ronald, the audience was amazed to see the charm of Ngurbloat Beach, named by National Geographic as the finest white sand beach in Asia. At this beach the audience witnessed traditional dances against a backdrop of sparkling white sand.

In the final session of this virtual tour, the audience is invited to get acquainted with the culinary specialties of the Kei islands. Uniquely, one of these specialties is made from poisonous cassava. However, after going through a processing method that has been passed down from generation to generation, the poisonous cassava can be turned into a delicious dish typical of the Kei Islands. Other interesting specialties include grilled white snapper with colo-colo sauce, cassava flour fried banana, and sea grapes mixed with grated coconut. In addition, this virtual tour also shows a variety of souvenirs that are ready to make tourists will not forget the unique experience of vacationing in the Kei Islands.

To witness the beauty of the Kei Islands through this virtual tour, tourists can access the Pesona Indonesia YouTube channel with the title "Virtual Village Tourism: The Beautiful Luster of Ngilngof Village, Kei Islands."

Fitri Ningrum from Caventer Indonesia said, "We chose destinations located in border areas or remote areas that have unique cultures, because these destinations are still very rarely known by people. So the hope in general, of course with the holding of this virtual tour, these destinations will get the attention of the Indonesian people and Kemenparekraf. A very big hope is also for the audience or the general public to be able to become a new education about tourist villages, that there is a long struggle behind the development of tourist villages, and tourists can know that there is a local culture that must be respected and appreciated when being a tourist village tourist." He said.

The presence of virtual tourism can provide an alternative to traveling in the pandemic era. This activity is also expected to be an economic driver through additional income for the parties involved in this activity. By knowing and exploring briefly, it is hoped that tourists will be interested in visiting directly to community-based tourist destinations scattered throughout Indonesia.