Indonesia to participate in International tourism bourse in Berlin

Indonesia will participate in the upcoming International Tourism Bourse (ITB) in Berlin, Germany, from March 5 to 9, 2008.

The Indonesian contingent at the ITB would be supported by 65 hotel and travel agent industries and five regional administrations namely Bali, East Java, Central Java, West Lombok (West Nusa Tenggara Province) and Jayapura (Papua Province), Minister Counselor of the Indonesian Embassy in Berlin Wahyu Hersetiati Priyanto said in a statement on Saturday.

Indonesian Tourism Minister Jero Wacik was slated to officially launch the Indonesian Visit Year 2008 campaign in Germany and dedicated the Indonesian Pavilion at the ITB on Wednesday (March 5, 2008), he said.

Minister Jero Wacik was also scheduled to hold a meeting with Jurgen Klimke, a member of the German Bundestag (Parliament).

The Indonesian minister was also expected to hold a press conference on Thursday (March 6) at the ITB, which would be joined in by more than 10,000 participants from 180 countries and was projected to be visited by around 180,000 people, Priyanto said.

Indonesia would also hold an industrial gathering on March 7 in connection with the country`s tourism promotion in Berlin. The country`s pavilion would present traditional dances and demonstrations on traditional clothe waving during the world`s biggest tourism exhibition.

Last year, Indonesia won a prize for the Best Exhibitor category for Asia, Australia and Oceania, at the Berlin ITB.

For 2008, Indonesia has set itself the target of attracting seven million foreign tourists and earning a total of US$6.7 billion in foreign exchange from them.

A total 5.5 million foreign tourists visited Indonesia last year.

Topping the list of countries where the tourists came from was Singapore with 1.46 million tourists, followed by Malaysia (941,202 tourists), Japan (593,784), Australia (313,881), South Korea (423,098), China (335,172), Europe (528,171), and the United States (154,846).