Indonesia Hopes to Welcome 10 Million Foreign Tourists in 2015

Jakarta Globe, Investor Daily,  Jan 02, 2015

A Buddhist monk stands near stupas at Borobudur Temple during a ritual on
Vesak Day in Magelang, Central Java, in this May 25, 2013, file photo. (EPA Photo)

Jakarta. The Indonesian tourism sector hopes to attract ten million foreign tourists this year, who spend more than $12 billion, or almost 13 percent more than in 2014.

“The tourism situation in Indonesia in 2014 has been bright,” Tourism Minister Arief Yahya said in Jakarta on Friday. “That is why the Tourism Minister is targeting $12.05 billion in foreign exchange income over the next year and 10 million foreign tourists.”

In 2014, foreign tourists spent $10.69 billion in Indonesia, the minister said.

Meanwhile, the Central Statistics Agency (BPS) said in a statement published on its website on Friday that the number of tourist arrivals was down 5.32 percent last November, compared with the same month a year earlier. For the whole year until December, Indonesia welcomed 8.52 million foreign visitors, up 7.29 percent from the same period in 2013.

Arief said that the total for the year including December was likely to have reached 9.3 million arrivals.

Domestic tourists in the coming year are expected to spend Rp 201.5 trillion ($16 billion) on an estimated 254 million trips, three million more than last year.

On average, domestic tourists spend around Rp 750,000 on each trip, while foreign tourists spend some $1,200, the minister claimed.

“This is why we are focusing our efforts on attracting foreign tourists, as they spend 20 times as much as domestic tourists,” Arief said. “But of course this doesn’t mean we’ll neglect our marketing for domestic tourism.”

To meet the targets for 2015, the ministry will work to improve the nation’s tourism infrastructure and focus on health and hygiene and accessibility, among other issues.

There will also be a digital marketing campaign to attract foreign tourists, Arief said, adding that this would use up two-thirds of the budget for tourism marketing, with the remainder going to offline activities such as advertisement in print media and sales missions.