Jakarta, Nov 14 (Antara) - Besides waiving visa requirements for 90 countries, the Indonesian government is also focusing on the development of 20 tourism destinations in an effort to boost its foreign exchange revenues from this sector to US$20 billion.
"The development of tourism destinations is expected to increase the state foreign exchange earning to US$20 billion in the next five years, from the current US$10 billion," Governor of Bank Indonesia (BI) Agus Martowardojo said on the sidelines of a coordination meeting between the central-regional governments and Bank Indonesia (BI) in Yogyakarta Friday (Nov 13).
One of the challenges in the development of tourism is how the central and regional governments, as well the private sector, can make a tourism destination attractive, according to the central bank governor. This is needed due to the fact that the neighboring countries in Southeast Asia are also preparing their tourism destinations.
The Indonesian government has set a target to attract more foreign tourists and increase its annual foreign exchange earnings in the tourism sector from currently US$10 billion to US$20 billion in the next five years.
Therefore, the government is also providing free-visa facility for 90 countries and focusing on the development of 10 tourism destinations.
Thus, Indonesia's foreign exchange earnings from the tourism industry may double to US$20 billion following the government's decision to waive visa requirements for 90 countries, according to Coordinating Minister for Maritime Affairs Rizal Ramli.
"We will increase the number of tourist arrivals to 20 million from 10 million and have set ourselves the target of increasing foreign exchange earnings to US$20 billion from US$10 billion," Rizal Ramli said Sunday (Nov. 8).
To achieve the target, the government has taken several initiatives including waiving visa requirements for 90 countries, he said.
"We provide visa-free facilities to many countries in the hope that the country will make further progress," he said.
To support the achievement of the target, the government is also developing 10 tourist destinations in the country.
The government has designated 10 tourist destinations, which will become the focus of development to increase the number of arrivals of tourists, according to Bank Indonesia Governor Agus Martowardojo.
The ten destinations are Lake Toba in North Sumatra, the Mandalika in West Nusa Tenggara (NTB), the Morotai in North Maluku, and the Tanjung Lesung in Banten, in addition to the Labuan Bajo in NTB, the Seribu Islands in Jakarta, and the Bromo Tengger Semeru in East Java. Also on the list are the Wakatobi in Southeast Sulawesi, the Balitung Island, and Yogyakarta.
BI and the central-regional governments agreed to accelerate the development of Kulonprogo Airport in Yogyakarta because traffic at the existing Adi Sucipto airport has increasingly been very busy, Agus said during the coordination meeting in Yogyakarta.
If the government maintains its commitment to developing tourism infrastructure, the development of Kulonprogro airport could be expedited and could begin during the June-September 2016 period, he said.
"We have heard the commitment that the land clearance for the airport would be finished in the June-September 2016 period. So, its development could start soon," Agus said.
He urged the government to tackle obstacles hampering the development of the tourism industry in three sectors: access, attractions and supporting capacity.
Indonesia still lacks access to its tourism objects and main destinations, Agus said. The lack of access hampers the development of tourism in the region and reduces the economic benefit that could be earned by the local people.
"Access is important because tourists need connectivity. We see the huge potential in earnings from tourist visits if we have adequate access," the BI governor said.
The government's program to develop 10 tourism destinations is part of the efforts to attract tourists.
On the supporting capacity, the BI governor promised that in the future, the monetary authorities will provide incentives to banks that maintain the quantity and quality of their financing facilities for small and medium scale businesses (UMKM), which are doing business in the tourism sector.
"We can offer incentives to banks so that they could be empowered to expand credits to the UMKM," he said.
In recent years, the Indonesian tourism growth has continued to show an upward trend.
Data with the Ministry of Tourism showed Tuesday (Nov 10) that the number of foreign tourist arrivals up to September 2015 reached 7.1 million. The figure shows an increase of 3.53 percent from 6.9 million tourists in the same period last year.
For 2015, the target for Indonesian foreign tourist arrivals was set at 10 million visitors.
In 2014, foreign tourist arrivals had increased due to events such as a music festival, and cultural and international sports events.
Tourist arrivals grew by 9.84 percent in September 2015, not just the highest this year but also a record high in the past five years, Tourism Minister Arief Yahya said in a press statement released Monday (Nov 2).
The number of tourists visiting Indonesia in September 2015 reached 869,179, representing a 2.19 percent increase compared to August 2015, and a 9.84 percent rise compared to September 2014, according to the Central Statistics Agency (BPS).
Based on the Indonesian Tourism Competitiveness Index from the World Economic Forum 2015, Indonesia was ranked 50 out of the 141 countries taking part in it. Its ranking increased from 70 in 2013 and 74 in 2011. ***3***(A014/INE/o001)
(T.A014/B/BESSR/O. Tamindael) 14-11-2015 15:19: |
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