The Economy Starts to Recover, Europeans Visiting Indonesia Increase

Tempo Interactive, Thursday, 18 March, 2010 | 20:42 WIB

TEMPO Interactive, Jakarta: Director of Overseas Promotion at the Department of Culture and Tourism, I Gde Pitana, has said that Indonesia succeeded in getting 149,000 European tourists at the Berlin International Tourism Bourse held on 10-14 March with a transaction value of Rp1.49 trillion.

“This amount was obtained from 69 private industries that participated there, from hotels, travel agencies, and spas etc,” Pitana told Tempo, on Thursday (18/3).

This number was an increase from last year’s total of only 78.000 tourists.

“The increase was caused by the European economic recovery,” said Pitana.

While the countries of origin of tourists were well-established countries.

“The big four are England, France, the Netherlands and Germany,” he said.

There was also a shift in tourism destination, which are no longer centered around Bali and Java, but have moved to Lombok, Manado and Sumatra.

“The important thing is how to prepare accessibility,” he said.

In terms of the quality of pavilions, the Indonesian pavilion was considered one part of the five best (Top 5) from among 70 participants from Asia, Australia and Oceania.

The evaluation was based on the architecture, beauty, crowds and dynamic.

“But the evaluation did not include transaction value,” said Pitana.

For specific tourism, for example cruises, the Department of Culture and Tourism participated in the exposition "Sea Trade" in Miami, 15-18 March 2010.

“We asked Pelindo and Bali Cultural Office so that agencies could connect with cruise operational managers,” added Pitana.

ARYANI KRISTANTI