REPUBLIKA.CO.ID, JAKARTA -- Indonesia is promoting world class tourist destinations for vegetarians, the country's tourism Minister Arief Yahya said here on Thursday. The market promotion will give emphasis on the principle of triple S - size, sustainability and spread, the minister said in a written statement.
He said there are 500 million vegetarians in the world the largest being in India totaling around 350 million and the second largest in China 50 million.
China and India ranks among Indonesia's 5 largest tourism markets in the world, he said, adding the other three are Europe, Australia and Singapore.
The minister said Chinese are the largest in number (size) reaching 2.2 million with the highest growth (sustainability) at 42 percent and the largest foreign exchange contribution (spread) in the tourism sector.
Indian tourists ranked among the Top-5 market only this year with arrivals expected to reach 700,000 (size) and growth (sustainability) at 40 percent.
"Last year , Indian tourists visiting Indonesia totaled 485.000 arrivals putting South Korea behind and outnumbering Japan this year," Arief said.
He said vegetarian communities in Indonesia have developed 10 vegetarian destinations and set 10 types of most delicious vegetarian foods including gado gado, sayur asem, fried rice and pecel.
Vegetarian tourist destinations are found in Belitung, with object tourist village having organic garden and favorite vegetarian foods, he said.
He said Indonesia ranks among Top-20 Vegetarian-Friendly Countries, adding according to The Global Vegetarian Index issued by the Oliver's Travel, Indonesia is ranked the 16th among 183 vegetarian friendly countries.
Ranked first among the Top-20 Vegetarian-Friendly Countries is Seychelles, with Thailand the second and Malaysia the third.
Indonesia has 438 vegetarian restaurants, as against Malaysia's 1,185 restaurants, Thailand's 908 restaurants and Singapore's 654 restaurants.
Indonesia is launching massive promotional campaigns to attract more foreign tourists hoping to make the tourism sector one of its largest foreign exchange earners.
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