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THE INDONESIAN (RI) Government held a business meeting to discuss cooperation opportunities with businesspeople and investors in Doha, Qatar. The meeting included business meetings with Qatar Airways, Qatar Investment Authority (QIA), Power International Holding (PIH), as well as Middle East travel agents & tour operators.
At this meeting strategic issues were discussed including Joint Marketing between the Ministry of Tourism and Creative Economy and Qatar Airways which has routes to 160 countries around the world. This collaboration will be followed up by drafting a Memorandum of Cooperation (MoC) following the 2022 World Cup.
According to the Minister of Tourism and Creative Economy, Sandiaga Uno, the meeting with Qatar Airways also discussed increasing connectivity from Qatar as an international flight hub to Indonesian destinations, especially to 5 Super Priority Destinations.
“I said, one of the problems for tourists is the high price of plane tickets, but with so many flights or lots of seats, there will be lots of connectivity options and that can make ticket prices go down,” said Sandiaga.
The next meeting, with the Qatar Investment Authority (QIA) and Power International Holding (PIH), discussed investment in the tourism sector for the development of 5 Super Priority Tourism Destinations and investment in Tourism Special Economic Zones (KEK).
“This business meeting is expected to attract the interest of tourists and investors from parekraf business partners in Qatar in the tourism sector and Indonesia’s creative economy. As well as being able to work together with tourism business partners in Qatar to support economic revival and open jobs that are targeted to be 1.1 million this year and 4.4 million in 2024,” he remarked.
Furthermore, the Indonesian government through the Tourism Ministry also conducted dialogue with Qatar Tour Operators who sell tour packages to Indonesian destinations. Tourism Ministry received input to develop a joint strategy to attract foreign tourists from Qatar. Regarding the status of Qatar which is an international hub with the strength of Qatar Airways as one of the airlines with the most flight routes in the world and also the large number of expatriates working in Qatar.
“There are several inputs to post-pandemic marketing strategies related to the interest of tourists from Qatar, including nature tourism, honeymooners, sports and luxury tourism. There is also input from Qatar Tour Operators regarding the high ticket prices so that packages to Indonesia become less competitive,” he finished.
The Qatar Tour Operators also proposed that Business Matching activities be carried out with Indonesian Tour Operators, so that they can discuss with each other and provide updates regarding foreign tourists’ interest in origination and the latest tourism products and packages in Indonesia. [traveltext.id]
