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SPANISH people are more familiar with Bali than Indonesia, which has a variety of tourist attractions, but the condition began to change after the Government set five super-priority destinations besides Bali, one of which is Lake Toba in North Sumatra.
According to David Sirait of Salvajesumatra Tours said after the entry of North Sumatra five priorities for tourism development, North Sumatra experienced very rapid development. The Indonesian Pavilion at the world’s leading tourism exhibition Feria Internacional de Turismo (FITUR) Madrid, which lasted for five days from January 22-26, carried Mbaru Niang, the traditional home of the island of Flores, as the focal point of the Indonesian Pavilion.
“With the reopening of Sibolangit Airport and the construction of The Caldera it has attracted a lot of tourists’ attention to visit Lake Toba. For this reason, he hopes that his presence in Feature will be able to attract Spanish tourists to visit Lake Toba,” he said.
David Sirait, who has been in the tourism world starting from 2008 and has been a tour guide in Sumatra, Bali, Yogyakarta and Lombok, also wants to go directly to promote Indonesia in Feature.
Although Salvajesumatra Tours began operating in 2018 with the aim of developing and promoting tourist areas in Indonesia, especially North Sumatra, his birthplace, but he is ready to go directly into the field as at the Feature tourism exhibition.
For this reason, it is expected that all communities and also the tourism industry work hand in hand to maintain and develop Indonesian tourism throughout the world.
Meanwhile Imam Wahyudi from Nandini Jungle Resort & Spa in Ubud Bali acknowledged that the business potential at this event was enormous because one feature event could be targeted to reach several markets not only Spain but also other markets such as Portugal, Italy, and North America, Mexico and surrounding.
According to Wahyudi, Nandini had been involved in almost all travel fairs held by the Ministry of Tourism, such as ITB Berlin, WTM London, IFTM Paris and even in Scandinavia.
The main obstacle is that most partners from Spain communicate very little in English. So it would be very helpful for the industry if the Ministry or the Indonesian Embassy supports a team that can assist in dealing business with partners from Spain.
In contrast to Norberto Rodriquez Sanchez from come2indonesia.com from Spain who easily reaches potential Spanish tourists who want to vacation in Indonesia next summer.
According to Sanchez, Bali is a past and currently a tourist attraction that is much in demand by Spanish tourists is Labuan Bajo, Komodo Island and the Borneo national park in Kalimantan. But Sumba is a tourist attraction in the future, said Norberto who specializes in promoting the island of Sumba in Feature.
Sanchez along with two colleagues from Spain, Guiomar Del Pino Ramirez who is commonly called Guio and Miquel Angel Del Rio Garcia said the Spaniards were happy with the diverse Indonesian culture that he had not encountered in Spain.
The three Spaniards vigorously promote Indonesia. “The feature is a good time to reach Spanish tourists on holiday in Indonesia,” said Guio.
Alfonso Carrasco from Kalimantan Explorer has been introducing Indonesia for 20 years to the Spanish community, which began with his passion for traveling to Indonesia and thinking of making a business.
Since then, Alfonso has never been absent in promoting various tourism objects in regions in Indonesia to Papua and Kalimantan with his forest people.
“The Spanish people love to do adventures and many attractions that are not found in Spain, moreover they like to have a vacation, especially in the summer which has begun to be designed since January,” said Alfonso.
No wonder in the last two Features, many Spanish families invite their children to visit Feature to find information and to design their vacation. [antaranews]
