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THE MINISTRY of Tourism and Creative Economy targets the number of foreign tourist arrivals to reach 1.8 million to 3.6 million. This figure is focused on achieving the concept of quality and sustainable tourism in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic situation.
Minister Sandiaga Uno during the 2021 End of Year Press Conference at the Soesilo Soedarman Hall, Sapta Pesona Building, Jakarta, Monday (12/27) explained, in 2020 the number of foreign tourists to Indonesia reached 4.05 million people and decreased in 2021 only 1.5 million people. Next year, the Ministry of Tourism will focus on the target of 1.8 million to 3.6 million foreign tourists.
“This number of foreign tourists used to be the number that we always pursued in terms of numbers, but this time we focus on quality and sustainable tourism. Meanwhile, domestic tourists are the mainstay with a target of 260-280 million movements and the added value of the creative economy reaches IDR1,236 trillion,” he said.
Meanwhile, the Deputy for Strategic Policy at the Ministry of Tourism, Kurleni Ukar added, regarding the small target of foreign tourists, even though in 2022 there will be various kinds of international activities or events in the country.
“We agree with National Development Planning Agency (Bappenas) not to set high targets. However, we hope that international events will increase foreign exchange for the country. This border opening policy is still an obstacle, then problems related to accessibility and ease of entering Indonesia,” said Kurleni Ukar.
Then he also explained, related to the potential market or origination that made it possible to come to the country. Bali, said Kurleni, is still a favorite destination for foreign tourists from Australia, then there are tourists from India and Japan who currently have direct access from the cherry blossom country.
“As for Batam and Bintan, tourists from Malaysia and Singapore are still the main targets,” she noted.
Likewise, the Deputy for Marketing at the Ministry of Tourism, Nia Niscaya, added that the origination of foreign tourists targeted by Indonesia is very dynamic, because it is in accordance with coordination with the Ministry of Health, which must consider COVID-19 cases in the targeted country.
“It’s very dynamic for the origination of tourists and also the returning home policy, because if the returning home policy is complicated, it makes tourists lazy to leave their country,” Nia remarked.
Second, continued Nia undoubtedly, Indonesia is still the top of mind for tourists who want to travel to their homeland. It can be seen from the search volume of tourists on search engines.
“Attention is already there on the market, but unfortunately the data is very strong at this time from the high search volume, in fact Omicron is high, this is the basis for consideration later, we determine the focus of the market, we must coordinate with the Ministry of Health,” she added.
The Deputy for Tourism Products and Event Organizers, Rizky Handayani added, indeed next year there will be several International Meetings, Incentives, Conventions & Exhibitions (MICE) events that will be held in the country such as the G20 event, AVPN, and others.
“There are global issues that affect the number of markets that will come to Indonesia, until then we will push from the MICE sector next year and events such as sport events or cultural events. Previously, leisure took around 63-65% of the portion, MICE and special interests were only around 23%, we are still hoping for that figure in the future,” she concluded. [traveltext.id]
