Spain praises Indonesia`s diverse tourism destinations

Spanish Tourism Secretary of State Isabel Maria Borrego Cortes praised the diversity and beauty of the Indonesian tourism destinations while receiving her Indonesian counterpart, Arief Yahya, in Madrid.

Yahya was in Spain on a working visit from December 3 to 5, 2015, the Indonesian embassy in Madrid said in a statement on Monday.

In the meeting with Cortes, Minister Yahya was accompanied by Indonesian Ambassador to Spain Yuli Mumpuni Widarso, and Deputy in charge of international tourism marketing, I Gde Pitana.

The Spanish Secretary of State for Tourism was flanked by the Director of Tourism Cooperation and Competition, Isabel Alonso Pinar.

The Indonesian Tourism Minister informed his counterpart about Indonesias target of doubling the number of foreign tourist arrivals from 10 million to 20 million a year.

He also expressed his wish to learn about tourism promotion from Spain which manages to attract 67 million foreign tourists a year, making the tourism industry its national economic backbone.

Cortes expressed her support for Indonesia for achieving its target and offered cooperation in this regard.

Yahya proposed cooperation in human resources capacity building in the tourism sector by allowing Indonesian students of higher learning institutes in this sector to do internships in Spain.

He also offered investment opportunities in the development and management of Tourism Special Economic Zone and National Tourism Strategic Zone, beyond just Bali.

The Spanish minister welcomed an offer to develop a big data program for digital marketing and smart destinations in Indonesia.

She said she was also interested in investing in maritime tourism in Indonesia.

Yahya invited Cortes to visit Indonesia.

While in Madrid, Tourism Minister Arief Yahya also held a meeting with Secretary General of the United Nations World Tourism Organization (UN WTO) Thaleb Rifai and some UN WTO executives at the organizations headquarters.

Minister Yahya also invited the UN WTO to establish cooperation to analyze the visa-free policy and to organize a seminar on "Beyond Bali Destination: Opportunities and Challenges." (Antara)