2014 Target: 8% Increase in Foreign Tourists Arrivals

The Ministry of Tourism and Creative Economy targets an increase of 8% in international tourist arrivals in 2014 with infrastructure and tourist destinations continuously being developed.

In the month of January 2014, the number of tourist arrivals surged by 22.59% year on year, giving a promising start to reaching this yearly target.

“The target in 2014 for international tourists to visit Indonesia is between 9.3 to 9.5 million, an increase of between 6% - 8% compared to 2013,” stated Minister of Tourism and Creative Economy, Mari Elka Pangestu, in Surabaya, Wednesday, March 12, 2014, reported detik.com.

Minister Mari added that currently 16 priority destinations are the focus of development and promotion, that - apart from Bali - include among others Lombok, Lake Toba, Old Batavia, Tana Toraja, Borobudur Temple, Bromo-Tengger-Semeru National Park, Raja Ampat, Lake Batur, Wakatobi, Flores-Komodo and more. These destinations will be expanded to 88 destinations by 2025, as specified in the National Tourism Master Plan.

“Indonesia is so diverse that the country has a lot more destinations to offer, the fact, however, being that some have remained untouched, while others are firmly established, and a number still need revitalization or restoration,” said Minister Mari. Many destinations still need to be developed especially in their infrastructure and facilities, so that our vision to develop sustainable tourism destinations can be attained, thereby creating benefits at a national scale.

“What needs to be truly underscored is that local communities must benefit from the development of tourism in their respective areas. Thus, the focus of human resources and local economy becomes significant,” added Mari. To increase the quality of human resources, programs have been undertaken by the national government to improve the competence of 64,000 tourism workers from 32 different professions. Mari also urged all tourism stakeholders including from the private sector and regional governments to increase efforts to raise the quality of human resources in tourism.

Meanwhile, data from the Ministry of Tourism and Creative Economy revealed that the number of domestic tourists in Indonesia made 248 million trips in 2013 growing at the rate of 1.1%, and spending a total of IDR176.3 trillion. The number of international tourists to Indonesia in 2013 is recorded at 8.802 million making a total spent of IDR12.66 trillion.

Source: indonesia.travel