INDONESIA SETS BIGGER TARGET FOR TOURIST VISITS IN 2015 by Fardah

 Jakarta, Feb 6, 2015 (Antara) - As the number of tourists to Indonesia exceeded all expectations in 2014, the government has set a larger target, from 10 million to 12 million foreign tourists, for 2015.

        Tourism Minister Arief Yahya has expressed optimism that the new target is achievable with intense promotional activities.

         The government has been planning a four-fold increase in the budget for tourism promotion, from Rp300 billion to Rp1.2 trillion this year, Arief Yahya stated after attending a meeting to discuss tourism affairs. The meeting was chaired by Vice-President Jusuf Kalla and attended by Home Affairs Minister Tjahjo Kumolo and Justice and Human Rights Minister Yasonna H. Laoly on Feb. 5, 2015.

        The government has been planning to place massive advertisements in the international media such as CNN and Discovery Channel.

        "Our promotional cost is relatively smaller as compared to Rp3.6 trillion spent by Malaysia, for instance," he noted.

        The tourism ministry's Head of Tourism Resource Development Agency I Gde Pitana recently stated that the ministry had been using digital media as promotional tools to reach the international community.

          The digital media can effectively promote Indonesia's tourism attractions. "We have allocated 50 percent of our budget to tap the digital media," Pitana added.

          During January-November 2014, an average of 775 thousand foreign tourists visited Indonesia every month. In December 2014, the country received 915 thousand foreign tourists.

           In 2014, most of the tourists came from Singapore, Malaysia, Australia, China, and Japan. The minister has forecast that the composition will change in 201The minister remarked that the government will improve and build infrastructure facilities to support the tourism industry, particularly maritime tourism.

        "Some 70 percent of the world's coral reef triangle is in Indonesia, but maritime tourism constitutes only 10 percent of the total tourism in Indonesia," he pointed out.

         When asked about political stability playing a role in tourism growth, he stated that political situation in Thailand has not been any better than that in Indonesia, but Thailand has managed to earn US$40 billion from the tourism industry as compared to US$10 billion earned by Indonesia. 
    President Joko Widodo has set the target to receive 20 million tourists by 2019, or an increase of 16 percent per year.

         Earlier, the Central Bureau of Statistics (BPS) reported that some 9.44 million foreign tourists visited Indonesia during January-December 2014.

         "Cumulatively, the number of foreign tourists that visited the country in 2014 reached 9.44 million, which was an increase of 7.19 percent from the 8.32 million recorded in 2013," the Head of BPS, Suryamin, told the press on Feb. 2, 2015.

          In December alone, some 915.3 thousand foreign tourists visited Indonesia. This was a 19.74 percent rise from that in November and 6.35 percent year-on-year surge from 860.7 thousand tourists in December 2013.

         Furthermore, a significant increase of 73.06 percent was recorded in the number of tourist arrivals at Lombok International Airport (BIL), West Nusa Tenggara province.

           Rise in arrivals at Ngurah Rai International Airport, Bali, was 15.11 percent, followed by Minangkabau International Airport in West Sumatra at 13.73 percent.

          "The lowest surge was at Soekarno-Hatta International Airport, at just 0.26 percent," Suryamin stated.

          Bali, Indonesia's most famous tourist resort, received 3.76 million tourists during 2014, up 14.89 percent from 3.27 million in the previous year.

         "Most of the tourists landed in Ngurah Rai International Airport, Bali, by direct flights from their countries. Only 34,903 tourists came by cruisers," Head of the Bali BPS Panusunan Siregar revealed in Denpasar recently.

          At 2,9 million foreign tourists in 2014, the number surpassed the target set by Bali.

          Of the ten top tourist sources, nine showed significant increase while Taiwan recorded a drop, from 127,443 tourists in 2013 to 114,504 in 2014.

          Australia sent 991,923 tourists to Bali last year, up 20.03 percent from 826,385 in 2013.

          He said Australians constituted 26.33 percent of the total foreign tourists visiting the Island of Gods, followed by Chinese with 586,300 visits, or an increase of 51.29 percent from 387,533 visitors in 2013.

          In the third place is Malaysia with 225,572 tourists last year, or up by 13.23 percent from 199,223 in the previous year; followed by Japan 217,402 tourists, a hike of 4.46 percent from 208,115 people; Singapore 179,719 tourists; South Korea 146,088; France 128,350; Britain 127,040; Taiwan 114,504; and the USA 111,640 tourists.

         The BPS recorded an average hotel occupancy rate of 50.13 percent in star-rated hotels in 27 Indonesian provinces in December 2014, a 5.60 percent fall from the 55.73 percent recorded in December 2013.

         The hotel occupancy rate in November 2014 also showed a decrease of 4.32 percent from that in the same month the previous year.

         Also, the average days of stay of foreign tourists in Indonesian hotels was recorded at 1.91 days in December 2014, the same as that in December 2013.

         To improve tourism services, the tourism ministry has planned to establish three new tourism high schools: in Mataram of West Nusa Tenggara Province, Palembang of South Sumatra Province, and Manado of North Sulawesi Province. ***1***
(f001/INE/S012)