THE Middle East remains Indonesia’s key target market and this year the country is expecting to welcome 175,000 visitors from the region. Key source markets from the region include Saudi Arabia, UAE, Bahrain and Egypt, said Esthy Reko Astuti, director general of Tourism Marketing.
This may account to a small percentage of their international visitor targets of nine million for 2013, however with the Arab guests’ longer staying patters and stronger spending powers; the region remains a key focus for Indonesia.
Already the country has seen an increase in airline travel between Indonesia and the Middle East, with 28 flight services daily between these two regions. Stressing on the point of collaboration with regional airlines, the ministry plans to increase the number of those visiting the country from 8.04 million reported last year to nine million in 2013.
The importance of this market has seen Emirates increase its Dubai-Jakarta trips to three times daily starting March 2013, while Garuda Indonesia entered in an agreement with gulf carrier Etihad to help boost the same.
Other countries that reported increased number of tourists includes Egypt and Saudi Arabia with a growth of 22.56 and 18.13 per cent each in that order in the first quarter of the year of the year as compared to last year. Russia and China both reported a growth of 20 per cent in the same period.
Speaking about the appeal to Arab guests, Astuti said, “From Spas to shopping to our rich ecotourism, the Arab guests are keen to experience what the country offers. We are marketing and promoting all our seven tourism segments in this region, including– culture and heritage, eco and nature, sports tourism, Spa and wellness, shopping and culinary and cruise tourism and mice.”
Globally, the tourism board has plans to open new representative offices to boost visitor arrivals from new markets. The offices are expected to open in Sydney, Beijing, Taipei, and Amsterdam.