Tourism to grow by six percent

Antara News, Monday, March 22, 2010 15:28 WIB

Jakarta (ANTARA News) - The United Nations-World Tourism Organization (UN-WTO) has predicted that the tourism sector in Indonesia this year would grow by six percent.

"According UN-WTO Secretary General Thaleb Rifai, the Indonesian tourism sector would grow by six percent or three points above the world`s tourism development," Promotion of Foreign Affairs Ministry of Culture and Tourism, I Gde Pitana, said here on Monday.

Pitana said Thaleb Rifai tole him about the growth of Indonesian tourism sector when they met at International Tourism Bourse (ITB) in Berlin, Germany, from March 10-14, 2010.

He said that at the International Tourism Board in Berlin, the UN-WTO secretary general also predicted the wold`s tourism sector would rise to the medium level or around three to four percent.

Therefore, Pitana said more effort should be made to have the target realized.

He expressed optimism that Indonesia would reach its target of 7 million tourist visiting the country this year, because the UN-WTO in Berlin also admired Indonesia for its capability to maintain the growth of tourism sector amidst global crisis of which, the world experienced a decline in tourism development to 4 percent in 2009.

"UN-WTO was of the opinion that not many countries would be able to be like Indonesia in tourism sector," Pitana said.

He said the UN-WTO appreciated Indonesia for 6.4 million foreign tourist visiting the country in 2009, although the country`s tourism sector grew in "double crisis," namely global financial crisis and the terrorist bombing.

"UN-WTO was of the opinion that other countries should have learned from Indonesia about the way how to develop its tourism sector in the midst of global crisis," I Gde Pitana said.