REPUBLIKA.CO.ID, JAKARTA -- President Joko "Jokowi" Widodo has called to improve Indonesian tourist attractions and intensify tourism promotion in order to attract more tourists.
"We have a huge tourism potential, but the number of tourists is only seven million. This figure is very small as compared to those of neighboring countries such as Malaysia, Singapore, and Thailand," President Jokowi said here, Thursday (15/1).
Besides revamping the existing tourist attractions, it is also crucial to intensify promotional activities to boost Indonesia's tourism sector and to increase the number of foreign tourists visiting the country, the head of state stated.
Over the past few years, the country has managed to boost its tourism sector that has recorded a growth of seven to eight percent.
Indonesian Tourism Minister Arief Yahya recently noted that development in the country's tourism sector in 2014 has been encouraging.
The Ministry of Tourism has set a target of 10 million foreign tourist arrivals in 2015, or an increase of some seven to eight percent from that of 2014's recorded figure.
The Central Bureau of Statistics (BPS) has revealed that foreign tourist arrivals in the country this year has reached 9.3 million, which is higher than its moderate target of 9.2 million.
Therefore, the ministry is optimistic that by the end of 2014, the number of foreign tourists will increase to 9.5 million.
In 2013, Indonesia met its target of 8.6 million foreign tourist arrivals; the figure was 8.044 million in 2012.
Considering this upward trend, the minister is optimistic that foreign tourist arrivals in the coming several years will be high, and thus, the target of 10 million arrivals in 2015 and 20 million by 2019 will be met.
The minister also expressed optimism with regard to the development of domestic tourism.
"The number of domestic tourists can reach 254 million. Thus, in addition to the foreign exchange of US$12.05 billion earned from international tourists, domestic tourists can contribute up to Rp201.5 trillion. This will open employment opportunities for 11.3 million people in the tourism sector," the minister noted.
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