JAPAN National Tourism Organization (JNTO) launched its 14th overseas office in Jakarta yesterday in the hopes of creating better awareness and boosting traffic from Indonesia.
JNTO Jakarta Office executive director, Katsuhisa Ishizaki, said: “We will organise a MICE seminar in Jakarta in June, bringing in suppliers and convention bureaus from Japan to meet the trade here.
“We will also take part in travel fairs in Indonesia such as the ASTINDO Fair and Garuda Indonesia Travel Fair to reach out to consumers.”
In last week’s ASTINDO Fair, for example, JNTO invited Tokyo Disney Resort, Mitsubisi Estate Simon/Premium Outlets Japan, Gifu, Mitsui Fudosan, Waku Waku Japan, and Universal Studios Japan to participate.
The office will also work with outbound tour operators in creating brochures and has set up a Facebook page in Bahasa Indonesia.
JNTO president, Ryoichi Matsuyama, said: “Indonesia has a large population and it belongs to the G-20, (showing) good economic condition. It (holds) big potential for Japan.”
Last year, arrivals from Indonesia shot up 34.8 per cent year-on-year to 136,800. Between January and February this year, Japan saw 13,600 Indonesian visitors or a 17.2 per cent increase over the same period last year.
Asked about JNTO’s arrivals target for Indonesia from this year onwards, Matsuyama said: “We do not have the target breakdown per country, but we hope Indonesia and other ASEAN countries (Thailand, Malaysia, Singapore, the Philippines and Vietnam) will contribute significantly to achieving 20 million arrivals to Japan by 2020.”
Last year ASEAN contributed 1.1 million arrivals to Japan, an increase of 48.3 per cent from the previous year. Indonesia was Japan’s fourth largest market in South-east Asia after Thailand, Singapore and Malaysia.
“Our focus in developing (the Indonesian market) will not only be in the number but also quality of travellers. So, we are growing step by step, but with the large population we believe one day arrivals from Indonesia will be able to surpass Thailand, which is now our biggest ASEAN market,” remarked Matsuyama.
