INDONESIA’S Ministry of Tourism and Creative Economy is organising a series of cultural events in November and December to stimulate its creative industries and boost arrivals to the country.
Mari Elka Pangestu, minister of tourism and creative economy, said: “With these events, we expect the products of Indonesia’s creative industry to become known internationally and (in turn) attract travellers and businesses to the country.”
The sixth Indonesia Performing Arts Market, running from November 13 to 16, will gather Indonesia’s best contemporary and traditional music, dance and theatre acts in Jakarta to perform in front of festival managers from Indonesia and overseas.
The ministry is also working together with 17 other government agencies and National Handicrafts Board to hold Indonesia Creative Products Week, from November 21 to December 1 in Jakarta.
Events will be concluded with Indonesia Film Festival, which is scheduled to take place in Semarang, Central Java on December 7.
The festivities are expected to contribute to Indonesia’s target of 8.6 million arrivals for 2014. Visitor arrivals to Indonesia between January to September have hit 6.4 million, an 8.8 per cent increase over the same period last year, which saw 5.9 million travellers.
Mari was confident that growth would continue for the rest of 2013. “We expect to be able to maintain the 8.8 per cent growth rate for the fourth quarter of the year, with the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) CEO Summit last month and its thousands of delegates, and the year-end holiday season coming up,” she said.
Apart from the APEC summit, Indonesia hosted the Miss World pageant in September. Bali has also been appointed the venue of the World Trade Organization Ministerial Conference in December, with some 7,000 expected to attend.
