Soekarno Hatta International Airport
TO achieve Indonesia’s arrival target of 12 million this year, the country’s tourism ministry is calling on regional governments and industry players to support the central government’s promotion efforts.
At a coordination meeting with regional tourism stakeholders last weekend, I Gde Pitana, Indonesia’s deputy minister for international promotion development, ministry of tourism, said it is critical to work together to achieve those numbers.
“To achieve the target, we need on average one million arrivals a month. January and February results (814,300 arrivals and 888,300 arrivals respectively) were below this number,” he stated.
Efforts to court arrivals include the advertising of Indonesia’s recently-implemented visa exemptions in destinations that have received the facility.
As well, the tourism authority is looking to attract travellers from Malaysia and Singapore with sporting events and music festivals organised twice a month in Batam, Bintan and West Kalimantan. An estimated 2.7 million travellers are expected from these two markets alone, said Pitana.
As for the China market, efforts are already underway, including having a Chinese film producer shoot in Indonesia, launching of a Chinese guide book on 10 Indonesian destinations, and promotion of the Wonderful Indonesia campaign in campuses in China.
Pitana added that Indonesia has seen Chinese arrivals reach new heights in the traditional peak season of February, and he urges the trade to work together to achieve greater arrival numbers during the next peak season between September and October.
The ministry is also working with TripAdvisor, Baidu and Ctrip to create marketplaces for Indonesian agents to upload their programmes. Similar partnerships with OTAs are on the drawing board with Expedia and Alibaba.
On the airline front, the ministry is lobbying for more direct flight routes from China and India to be opened. It is also in discussions with airlines such as AirAsia Singapore to launch packages to Jakarta, Bandung, Semarang, Yogyakarta and Bali.
“The achievement of the target will depend on how we can synergise the regional and central government programmes. The ministry does not have the products, they are all yours,” said Pitana to Indonesia’s tourism stakeholders at the meeting.
“We coordinate the promotion, but you need to come up with the products.”
