Jakarta, June 25 (Antara) - The Indonesian government is developing its
tourism sector in a bid to improve the country's economy, which is
facing a slowdown amid the glooming world economy.
While chairing a limited cabinet meeting at the Presidential Office on
Wednesday, President Joko Widodo (Jokowi) stated that the slowdown in
the national economy should be countered by an increase in the number of
tourist arrivals, so that it can support the nation's economy.
"Even with slow economic growth, the tourism sector can contribute by
generating foreign exchange earnings in a relatively short period of
time," the president affirmed.
Therefore, Jokowi called for an increase in tourism promotional
activities to attract more foreign and domestic tourists.
"The president has urged the minister of tourism to maximize the
country's tourism promotional activities to attract more foreign
tourists to Indonesia," Chief of the Presidential Communications Team
Teten Masduki noted.
To increase foreign tourist arrivals, Jokowi has issued Presidential Decree No. 69 of 2015 on free visa travel.
"Actually, several weeks ago, I had signed a free visa policy for 30
countries. I think it will have a positive impact on the country's
tourism industry," President Jokowi remarked.
So far, the Indonesian government has provided a free visa facility to
15 countries. With the new free visa policy being offered to 30
countries, the number of countries receiving the facility has increased
to 45.
Indonesia has previously been providing free visas to the citizens from
Thailand, Malaysia, Singapore, Brunei Darussalam, the Philippines, Hong
Kong Special Administration Region (Hong Kong SAR), Macau Special
Administration Region (Macau SAR), Chile, Morocco, Peru, Vietnam,
Ecuador, Cambodia, Laos, and Myanmar.
The 30 new recipient countries are China, Japan, South Korea, the
United States, Canada, New Zealand, Mexico, Russia, Britain, France,
Germany, the Netherlands, Italy, Spain, Switzerland, Belgium, Sweden,
Austria, Denmark, Norway, Finland, Poland, Hungary, the Czech Republic,
Qatar, United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, and South Africa.
Tourism Affairs Minister Arief Yahya stated that the free visa policy
has become an important step to help Indonesia achieve its target of
tourist arrivals.
According to Yahya, the tourism ministry will continue to implement
strategic and effective measures to realize the target of foreign
tourist arrivals and domestic tourist travels that have been set by the
government.
Besides targeting to increase foreign tourist
arrivals to 10 million in 2015, the policy also aims to boost the
country's foreign exchange reserves as part of an endeavor to improve
the performance of the country's economy.
The Ministry of Tourism has set a target to receive 10 million foreign
tourists in 2015, with the sector's foreign exchange contribution
expected to reach US$12.05 billion, up by about 7-8 percent from that
recorded in 2014.
Last year's foreign tourist arrivals in Indonesia reached 9.3 million,
contributing US$10.69 billion in foreign exchange to the state.
"We hope that the free visa policy can increase foreign tourist
arrivals in the country. We will also provide good services. We do not
want tourists to worry about obtaining a visa first," Minister Yahya
remarked.
Therefore, through the implementation of this policy, the minister is
optimistic that Indonesia will attract an additional one million
visitors. After all, 9.3 million foreign tourist arrivals were recorded
last year, which was relatively smaller as compared to 26 million
arrivals in Malaysia and 29 million arrivals in Thailand.
According to President Jokowi, other breakthroughs apart from issuing a
new free visa policy are still necessary to achieve significant growth
in the tourism industry.
"Thus, a major increase in tourism can generate fresh revenue for the state," Jokowi explained.
The Ministry of Tourism has therefore urged tourism operators to
improve their services and human resources, including industries
involved in Meeting, Incentives, Conference and Exhibition (MICE)
activities.
Director of the Tourism Ministry's MICE and Special Interest Promotion
Affairs Rizki Handayani stated that the MICE industry has been improving
from year to year in terms of quantity, quality, and organizing firms,
among others.
"The MICE industry in the country is expected to increase its quality
and human resources. This is very important to face the ASEAN Economic
Community," Handayani noted.
Minister Arief Yahya believed that with improved MICE services and
additional free visa facility recipient countries, Indonesia will be
able to increase its foreign tourist arrivals by about two million
annually.
"It can be predicted easily. (There will be a rise of) at least 20
percent from the 10 million (targeted tourist visits for 2015); we will
have 2 million more tourists," he said.
According to the minister, an increase in the number of tourists will
most likely be achieved as visa is one of the factors taken into
consideration by foreign tourists before they travel to Indonesia.
"Thailand and Malaysia implemented the free visa policy. Despite not
being too different from Indonesia in terms of natural beauty, foreign
tourists choose Thailand over Indonesia," he pointed out.
Indonesia will also conduct promotional activities in the Middle East
in order to increase the number of its foreign tourist arrivals,
according to Minister Yahya.
He stated that of late, the number of visitors from the Middle East has increased significantly.
The government is serious in seeking to draw more tourists from the Middle East, he emphasized.
Last year, the number of visitors from the Middle East grew 26 percent
to reach 170 thousand. Generally, visitors from the Middle East arrived
in family groups and stayed for a relatively longer period of time.
"They are also bigger spenders, with each person on an average spending
from US$1.4 thousand to US$1.7 thousand per visit as against around
US$1,140 per visit by visitors from other regions," he added.
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(T.A014/INE)
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(T.A014/A/BESSR/F. Assegaf) 25-06-2015 13:04: |
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