Indonesia plans 25% jump in tourism arrivals

Indonesia is targeting a 25% increase in international visitor arrivals over the next five years.

Outlining its latest five-year development plan, the country’s Ministry of Tourism & Creative Economy said it wants to welcome 12.7 million overseas visitors in 2019. This result would mark a 25% increase compared to the 9.5m arrivals it is targeting this year.

Over the past five years, Indonesia’s international arrivals are expected to increase 35% from seven million in 2010 to the 9.5 million projected for 2014.

“Backed by this significant growth, we’ve decided to increase the growth in foreign tourist arrivals from 20%… to 25 percent,” the Jakarta Post reported the ministry’s director general for marketing, Esthy Reko Astuti, as saying this week.

The development plan will focus on driving more visitors from 15 key markets, namely Singapore, Malaysia, China, Australia, Japan, South Korea, Taiwan, the Philippines, US, UK India, France, Germany, the Netherlands and Russia. Combined, these markets currently contribute 80% of all arrivals to Indonesia.

But Esthy said Indonesia could also benefit from targeting tourists from the Middle East.

“We have to generate more tourists from these countries because based on our experience, when a Middle Eastern airline opens direct flights to Indonesia, they tend to attract more outbound tourists from Indonesia rather than inbound tourists to Indonesia,” Esthy told reporters. “We need to boost our promotion in the Middle East to attract more visitors from the region.”