Bandar Lampung has learned from its first mistakes done during the hosting of the Tourism Indonesia Mart & Expo 2011. The city located in Southern Sumatra feels ready to welcome back delegates from October 9 to 11 2012…
JAKARTA- After hosting the Tourism Indonesia Mart & Expo (TIME) or ‘Pasar Wisata Indonesia’ last year, Bandar Lampung once again will host in 2012 Indonesia’s annual travel mart. This Indonesian premier tourism event will be held on 9 – 11 October 2012 at Graha Wangsa. Entering its 18th year of conduct, TIME is organized by the Indonesian Tourism Council (MPI) supported by the Indonesian Ministry of Tourism & Creative Economy and the entire tourism components in Indonesia.
The Chairwoman of the Steering Committee of TIME 2012, Meity Robot, said the conduct of TIME also supports the government’s program “Wonderful Indonesia” as TIME is aimed at promoting Indonesia as a tourist destination in the international market and at the same time raise the country’s image as a global travel destination.
“TIME is the only international travel mart in Indonesia with a business to business concept. The event is a meeting place for those who sell tourism products and services of Indonesia (seller) to the international market (buyer). TIME is listed in the calendar of international travel marts together with ITB Berlin, WTM London, Arabian Travel Mart (ATM), PATA Travel Mart, and so on. TIME 2012 will present all tourist destinations, including popular travel destinations, tourism objects, new product developments,” Meity continued.
“The shifting of TIME to Lampung for two consecutive years, 2011 and this year is aimed at promoting Lampung to the international market and speeding up the development and improvement of infrastructure, tourism facilities and tourism attractions in the region, so that at the end the destination could establish itself as a global travel destination. It will attract more tourist arrivals to the island and speed up the improvement of infrastructure and encourage more investors to the region to develop new hotels as well as tourism attractions,” Meity went on.
Lampung Province lies west of Jakarta, the capital, across the Sunda strait. An active volcano stands at its gateway, the world renowned son of Krakatau, and it is home to two of Indonesia’s largest natural reserves. It is located a short flight away from Jakarta. TIME 2012 will coincide with the holding of Krakatau Festival 2012 the biggest annual tourist event in Lampung. Held last year in Bandar Lampung, TIME 2011 attracted total attendants of 77 buyers from 27 countries, with top five buyers consisting of the Netherlands, India, Singapore, USA, Indonesia, Korea, and Singapore. TIME 2011 also attracted a total of 84 sellers from 64 companies from various provinces in Indonesia. TIME 2011 has booked an estimated USD 15.7 million in transactions, a decrease of approximately 10% compared to last year’s TIME in Lombok, West Nusa Teggara.
“The decrease of at last year’s TIME in Lampung was mainly due to logistics constrains as it was the first time that Bandar Lampung is hosting an international travel event. Despite the decrease, we saw new buyers attending TIME last year. They were from Slovakia, Mexico, Czech Republic, The Phillippines, and Thailand. Furthermore, we also saw that almost fifty percent of sellers attending TIME last year were first timers, including sellers from the Lampung province,” Meity concluded.
TIME 2012 is supported by the Ministry of Tourism and Creative Economy of Indonesia, the Provincial Government of Lampung, and the travel and tourism industry in Indonesia, namely Garuda Indonesia as Official Airline, Association of the Indonesian Tours & Travel Agencies (ASITA) Lampung, Indonesian Conference and Convention Association (INCCA), Indonesia Hotel and Restaurant Association (PHRI) Lampung, and Pacto Convex as the event organizer. TIME 2012 is also supported by national and international media.
Luc Citrinot a French national is a freelance journalist and consultant in tourism and air transport with over 20 years experience. Based in Paris and Bangkok, he works for various travel and air transport trade publications in Europe and Asia.
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