TTN

Indonesia growing in popularity with Arab visitors

Share  

INDONESIA experienced its best year ever for overseas tourism arrivals with 6.4 million visitors in 2008.

In the first quarter of 2009, while most destinations recorded negative growth, Indonesia continued to maintain a positive growth rate at 0.04 per cent compared with the same period in 2008.

And this year, the country expects its tourism revenue to go up to $8.4 billion from $7.6 billion in 2010. Indonesia received 6.4 million visitors last year and this is expected to increase to as many as seven million this year.

The Ministry of Culture and Tourism has announced a new branding for Indonesian tourism in 2011. After calling both 2009 and 2010 ‘Visit Indonesia Year’, this year it takes on the new tag line  - ‘Wonderful Indonesia’, highlighting the country’s nature, culture, food, people, and also value for money.

According to Nia Niscaya, director of Mice, Ministry of Culture & Tourism, Indonesia, Mice continues to be a key segment for the country. Indonesia offers corporate travellers low cost to high quality service; an exotic mix of cultures; breathtaking nature; pristine tropical beaches and outstanding cultural destinations. In addition, it has shopping at great value for money and a large variety of sporting activities from golfing to diving, all in a family-friendly atmosphere.

“The Middle East is a growing market for Indonesia. Last year the UAE saw an increase of 30.48 per cent in arrivals, followed closely by Saudi Arabia, which reflected a 33.33 per cent increase in arrivals,” said Niscaya. “We recognise the role of GIBTM in helping to attract great numbers of Mice visitors from all over the world to Indonesia.”

She added that, as a Mice destination, Indonesia is different to other Mice destinations offering a great variety of venues for conferences and exhibitions thanks to the large number of provinces and cities that have the capacity to host Mice events.

Jakarta is the destination of choice for many international conferences and exhibitions. The city houses the popular Jakarta Convention Centre (JCC), the Jakarta International Exhibition Centre in Kemayoran and new smaller places like Balai Kartini, Balai Samudra in Kelapa Gading in North Jakarta and Semanggi Expo in the Sudirman Central Business District.

Bali too has been has highly successful at gaining impressive incentive business from all over Asia Pacific with the addition of award-winning boutique hotels such as Aman hotels, Four Seasons Resort, Bulgari Resort and the new St Regis Resort.

Apart from Bali, Java is in high demand for congresses, exhibitions and events.

Other cities include Surabaya, Yogyakarta in Central Java, Medan in North Sumatra, Batam, Manado in North Sulawesi and Makassar in South Sulawesi which are all  growing Mice destinations.

Spacer