THE number of UAE travellers visiting Indonesia grew by more than 30 per cent last year and the destination plans to build on this figure with its appearance at Arabian Travel Market (ATM).
Following the successful international campaign ‘Visit Indonesia Year 2010’, international visitor arrivals to the country last year reached 7,002,944 up 8.53 per cent on 2009 with the total tourism revenue topping $7 billion as visitors spent close to $1,000 per visit.
The main markets for Indonesia are, among others, Singapore followed by Malaysia, Australia, Japan, China, South Korea, India, the UK, France, the Netherlands, Germany, Saudi Arabia and the UAE.
According to data from the National Statistical Bureau the number of UAE visitors to Indonesia last year was 4,906 compared to 3,760 in 2009, a rise of 30.48 per cent.
A tourism board spokesman said: “Even though the number of visitors from the UAE is still small compared with other markets, we believe that by hard work between Indonesia and the UAE in both the public and private sectors, visitors from the UAE will increase year to year.
“By participating at events such as Arabian Travel Market, we hope more and more Middle Eastern people, particularly those from the UAE, will visit Indonesia.
“The government of Indonesia is well aware of the importance of Middle Eastern visitors to Indonesia, therefore in 2008 it opened the Visit Indonesia tourism office in Dubai. We work hand in hand to promote Indonesia’s culture and tourism with activities such as on-line promotions, cooperation and sponsorship and media releases.”
Indonesia offers a wide variety of attractions from beach holidays to astonishing cultural diversity and heritage wonders including Unesco World Heritage Sites Borobudur Temple and Prambanan Temple in Java, fantastic shopping at great prices in Jakarta and Bandung, great golf with no waiting and reasonable fees at international class courses throughout the country, spas with traditional Indonesian health and beauty treatments and overall, a safe, family-oriented environment.