Face-to-Face: Ibu Nia Niscaya
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Q) How has Indonesia’s tourism industry fared in 2016?
For the period of January-September 2016, Indonesia has welcomed 8.36 million international visitors and we’re optimist to achieve 12 million by end of the year as targeted.
We saw in three consecutive months (July, August and September 2016) that numbers of visitors surpassed the one million figure and we are looking at an increasing trend for October, November and December.
Q) What are the main driving forces behind this growth?
The main factor behind the growth is our visa-free policy, which was introduced in March 2016 and now allows 169 nationalities to visit Indonesia for 30 days without a visa.
Q) Indonesia is currently promoting its 10 “new” destinations; what practical measures are being taken to improve infrastructure, tourist facilities etc at these locations?
At present, the government is upgrading existing infrastructure and facilities as well as developing new ones for better connectivity, making the regions more accessible.
Among the infrastructure currently being upgraded is Silangit Airport, near Lake Toba. Further infrastructure developments will take place in the next two years in three destinations, namely Lake Toba, Mandalika and Borobudur. The government has allocated IDR1.6 trillion (US$122.7 million) in the state budget in 2016 and 2017 for various infrastructure projects in these three areas, including road access, water system, drinking water, waste management and housing.
The development plan for Lake Toba includes the construction of toll roads connecting Medan-Kualanamu-Tebing Tinggi and Tebing Tinggi-Siantar-Parapat, and an access road to Sibisa airport in Parapat. Development for Borobudur includes a new international airport in Yogyakarta, a toll road connecting Yogyakarta and Bawen, and the expansion of several roads. Meanwhile, Mandalika will see several works carried out, such as the Sulin Bridge improvement, road expansion and maintenance.
Q) Which of the 10 destinations do you predict will be most popular?
As Lombok (with Mandalika being the development focus) is one of the 10 destinations, Lombok is more likely to be the next Bali. Lombok is the most accessible from Bali. It shares similar natural beauty and is also rich in culture. More importantly, Lombok is ready with its infrastructure, human resources and facilities.
Q) China is becoming a key source market for Indonesia; what steps are you taking to attract and retain Chinese visitors?
Branding, advertising and selling. We are undertaking continuous promotional activities to attract Chinese tourists, such as participating in tourism exhibitions, the ‘Wonderful Indonesia Festival’ and sales missions in various cities in China.
We are also advertising on Baidu and Ctrip, and increasing connectivity by direct flights – both scheduled and chartered. These include services from Jakarta and Denpasar and chartered flights to Manado and Balikpapan.
Indonesia has set a target of 20 million international tourists in 2019 and nearly 50% of them will come from China. It is very important to step up tourism cooperation with China to achieve the target.
Q) What other countries and international markets are you focusing on?
Origin-wise, our targets are mainly regional markets who contribute to the numbers of the visits. In additional to China, big markets include Singapore, Malaysia, Australia and Japan.
However, traditional markets such as UK, Germany, Netherlands and France or other long-haul visitors are also potential market. Usually they are travellers who have special interests such as beach activities, diving, snorkelling, surfing, hiking or other activities. This group of markets is an important contributor to tourism yields due to their length-of-stay and expenditures.
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