MORE FOREIGN BUYERS SHOW INTEREST IN BALI AND BEYOND TRAVEL FAIR by Fardah

  Jakarta, June 26, 2016 (Antara)- The Bali and Beyond Travel Fair (BBTF) has received a better international recognition, as more foreign buyers participated in the third BBTF this year.

         Themed "Where The World Comes to Meet", the annual travel fair was held from June 23 to 26, in Nusa Dua, Bali, with 222 buyers from 30 countries and 154 sellers from 20 provinces participating in the event.

         Some 80 percent of the buyers were from foreign countries. The organizing committee also invited some 20 sellers from other ASEAN member countries.

         Buyers and sellers joining the BBTF were engaged in hotel, restaurant, tourism attraction, cruise, MICE, tour, villa, and spa businesses.  
    "The world is increasingly recognizing the BBTF as 80 percent of the buyers constitute international tourism businesses," Tourism Minister Arief Yahya said when inaugurating the event on June 23.

         According to Yahya, the event, which brought together tourism businesses from across the world, can help to realize the government's annual target to attract 20 million foreign tourists to Indonesia by 2019.

         Chairman of the Organizing Committee I Ketut Ardana explained that of the total number of buyers, 77 were platinum ones, that could bring more than 10 thousand foreign tourists every year.  Last year, the number of platinum buyers was only 17.   
    The tourism fair has improved in terms of the amount of transactions and the quality of platinum buyers, he said.

    The BBTF organizing committee set a target to achieve tourism business transactions worth US$520 million, or Rp6.8 trillion.

         The target was increased by some 30 percent compared to last year's $400 million, according to Ketut Ardana.

         Minister Arief Yahya noted that the value was equal to the earnings from promotions during the Berlin Tourism Fair (ITB) in Germany.

         "Joining the BBTF is more profitable as it is implemented in Indonesia, and we are the organizer. At the ITB Berlin, we are merely a participant," he pointed out. 
    Minister Yahya suggested the BBTF organizing committee to invite international exhibitors or sellers to next year's event as they could also become potential buyers.

   
"Tourism is one of the five leading sectors in Indonesia," he said, adding that Indonesia has recently become the top destination for Australian tourists rather than New Zealand.

         He said that the government's move to grant free visas to 169 countries has made Indonesia the most welcoming holiday destination in all of Asia.     
    The BBTF is considered to be an efficient platform since buyers and sellers in the tourism sector are able to meet during a single event displaying tourism-related services, such as hotels, resorts, new and rare tourism destinations, restaurants, and travel operators.

         The opening of BBTF 2016 was followed by a Tourism Seminar to discuss 10 Destinations Beyond Bali. 
    Meanwhile, Buyer Meets Seller Session were held in the afternoon.

         Pre-scheduled appointments were fixed for holding direct business meetings for sellers and buyers keen on holding long-term business negotiations.

         In addition to the business event, BBTF 2016 organized travel packages for some participants, including platinum buyers, to four tourist destinations in Banyuwangi in East Java, Komodo in East Nusa Tenggara, Lombok in West Nusa Tenggara, Tanah Toraja in South Sulawesi, and North Bali and Bangli in Bali.

         This year's co-host of the BBTF was "Land of Toraja", a picturesque mountainous district in South Sulawesi Province that is home to an indigenous group known as the Torajans.

         "Beyond Bali Travel Fair 2016 is the largest travel exhibition in Bali, and helps promote Toraja's tourism potentials," the Head of Promotion and Marketing at the South Sulawesi Tourism Office, Devo Gaddafi, said recently.

         Toraja culture was on display at the tourism event.  "The Toraja booth is very prominent at the BBTF, next to the Wonderful Indonesia booth," Devo added.

         In addition to Tanah Toraja, the South Sulawesi Tourism Office is also introducing other tourist destinations in the province.

         "We are promoting `Bira and Beyond' and `Makassar and Beyond'," he noted.

         The participation in the event is part of the efforts to meet the target of attracting 8.25 million tourists to South Sulawesi.

     
  "This is an opportunity to promote Toraja and South Sulawesi in the international market. Last year, more than two thousand buyers and sellers had attended the event and made transactions worth US$512 million," Devo remarked.

         As for next year, the Bali and Beyond Travel Fair to be held from June 7 to 11, will highlight the tourism potential of South Sumatra province. ***1***
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