INDONESIA’S Ministry of Tourism & Creative Economy expects the next few editions of the annual Tourism Indonesia Mart & Expo (TIME) to take place in Sumatra, with Padang, the capital of West Sumatra, already earmarked to host next year’s event.
Faried Moertalo, director of domestic promotion, Ministry of Tourism & Creative Economy, said: “In its 18-year history, TIME has previously been held in Java and eastern Indonesia (Makassar and Lombok). Lampung is the first venue in Sumatra (for TIME) and we are happy to note that next year’s edition will take place in Padang.”
He added: “There are six (regional) gateways in Sumatra, namely Banda Aceh, Medan, Pekanbaru, Padang, Palembang and Batam. While direct regional services are still limited to Malaysia and Singapore, destinations in Sumatra can use these regional hubs to attract travellers from beyond these countries.”
Various destinations in Sumatra are also equipped with a good variety of quality hotels as well as cultural, natural and man-made attractions, Faried said, adding that hosting TIME would allow international buyers to take a closer look at the products on offer and aid local tourism stakeholders in selling their products overseas.
Next year, TIME will take place at the 162-room Grand Inna Muara Hotel & Convention Centre, which is scheduled to reopen in November following a makeover. The hotel features a ballroom with capacity for 1,600 pax, five pre-function rooms and 13 breakout rooms with capacity ranging from 15-200 pax.
“The ballroom and pre-function rooms can comfortably accommodate 55 booths of 3mx3m, but we will still discuss with Pacto Convex (the PCO for TIME 2013) to maximise the available space,” said Reiky Alfaridzi, general manager of the hotel.
TIME 2012 attracted 83 buyers from 28 countries and 74 Indonesian sellers occupying 60 booths.
