Perspectives look good for tourism to Indonesia with growth of international arrivals reaching so far this year 9% explained Mari Elka Pangestu, Minister of Tourism and Creative Economy during an exclusive interview to the Indonesian daily, Jakarta Post.
JAKARTA- Tourism and Creative Economy Minister Mari Elka Pangestu is upbeat about tourism perspectives for Indonesia. She believes the country will hit her tourism targets for this year, despite the continuing economic slowdown in developed countries. The Minister’s optimism is supported by excellent statistics released for the period of January to May by the Central Statistics Agency. It shows that Indonesian tourism continues to perform well with a growth rate of 8.8 %, almost twice as much as average growth registered by the UN World Tourism Organisation (UNWTO). Mrs Pangestu said that the percentage of increase in tourist arrivals from the US was double-digit, while those from Europe remained “surprisingly healthy”. “We discussed the impact of the European crisis at the UNWTO and G20 Tourism Ministerial Meeting in Mexico earlier this year and concluded that tourism is a crisis-resilient sector,” she told during her conversation with The Jakarta Post.
“We keep improving the tourism and creative economy sector in Indonesia by collaborating with relevant ministries and stakeholders to help build more infrastructure. Our target is not only to increase the number of tourists but also to make them stay longer,” she said.
Indonesia is aiming to attract eight million foreign tourists in 2012, up from 7.65 million in 2011. This would be the first time that Indonesia would pass the eight-million visitors’ mark. According to the Central Statistics Agency, foreign tourist arrivals reached 3,180,779 from January to May, up 8.81% from the same period last year.
The Minister attributed the bulk of the rise to the increased number of Chinese tourists, up by 39 % from the same period last year, followed by the Indian tourists, up by 11.4%. The number of tourists arriving in Indonesia from nations situated in the Euro-zone was also up. “We do not know what is going to happen in Europe in near future, but the global economy has been predicted to be better in 2013. We are optimistic that the tourism sector will grow more next year,” she added.
Prospects for tourism look strong for 2013, when the nation will host the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) Summit, the Ministerial Meeting of the World Trade Organization (WTO), the World Cultural Forum and the Miss World Beauty contest.
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.
