Indonesia Intensifies Tourism Promotion to Achieve Government Target
Jeddah, MINA — A series of tourism promotion activities had been carried out by the Indonesian Tourism Ministry in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, in collaboration with the Indonesian Consulate General, Saudi Gazette reported.
In a bid to lure more international tourists from the Kingdom and other nearby countries to come to Indonesia, Tourism Ministry sent a promotion team headed by Sulaeman, the head of a specialized Marketing Area-III (Saudi Arabia), with five tour operators to join a 3-day Jeddah International Travel & Tourism Exhibition (JTTX8).
As many as 186 exhibitors representing 21 countries participated in this promotion event officially launched by Prince Abdulaziz Bin Faisal Bin Abdul Majed from Feb. 28 until March 2 at Hilton Hotel with Indonesia becoming one of the strategic sponsors.
Aside from joining JTTX8, Indonesian tourism promotion team from Jakarta organized a sales mission on March 3 at Pullman Hotel by inviting local tour and travel operators and holding a business to business (B to B) meeting.
A presentation on several tourist destinations was also made by Tendi Naim, the head of tourism acceleration team on history, religion, art, and culture at the Tourism Ministry by screening video clips on tourism.
Seeking a strategic opportunity
In his welcoming remark, Indonesian Consul General Mohamad Hery Saripudin reiterated that the Kingdom is the largest contributor to Indonesia’s tourist inflow from the Middle East, confirming that as per data from 2017 Visitors from Middle East increased by 4,6% compared to the previous year, totaling 232.592 visitors, with 166,111 coming from Saudi Arabia. Overall, Indonesia recorded 14.039.799 visitors in 2017, or an increase of 21,88% compared to the previous year.
“We’ve always been seeking a strategic opportunity to reinforce Indonesia’s tourism position, and promote the country as a favorable tourist destination as well as to attract investors in the tourism sector,” he said.
Sales Mission in a form of B to B meeting, he added, rendered an excellent opportunity to both sellers and buyers to reach business deals and offer a worthy tourism experience to Saudi Market.
Saripudin went on to explain that Indonesia’s position in terms of international tourism is becoming even more established over time. “The journey to a Wonderful Indonesia”, the promotional video of Indonesia’s Tourism, won not just one but two awards in the UNWTO Tourism Video Competition held by the United Nations World Tourism Organization (UNWTO), beating 63 other videos from other UNWTO member nations in 2017.
Indonesia also took home the award for destination of the year 2017 Asia Pacific category at the 28th annual TTG Travel Awards 2017 that was held in Bangkok on Sept. 28.
While the Muslim travel market is one of the fastest-growing segments in the global travel industry, Indonesia, popularly known as the world’s largest archipelago, dominated the World Halal Tourism Award 2016 by winning 12 awards out of the total of 16 categories. The winners were announced at the awarding ceremony held on Dec. 7, 2016 in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates.
“In order to achieve our ambitious goal of 20 million visitors by 2019, Indonesia recently waived the visa requirements for 169 countries including the Kingdom and other GCC countries,” Saripudin added.
Intensively working jointly with the Indonesian Consulate General in Jeddah and Embassy in Riyadh to reinforce the branding of “Wonderful Indonesia”, Tourism Ministry has for the past few years done a bigger push for Saudi market by organizing familiarization trips for both media and travel agents operating in the Kingdom to experience wonders of Indonesia’s tourism. (T/RS5/RS1)
Mi’raj Islamic News Agency (MINA)