Tourism officials in Indonesia have backed plans by the new President-elect to develop a national sea highway in order to drive growth in the cruise sector and boost international tourism arrivals.
The proposed infrastructure initiative is primarily intended to improve shipping connectivity at 10 major seaports across the archipelago, and to reduce logistics costs. Irrespective, development of existing and new seaports would have a positive impact on the country’s nascent cruise sector, and has been endorsed by the Indonesian Tourism Promotion Board (BPPI) chairwoman Wiryanti Sukamdani.
“The growth of the country’s cruise sector is highly dependent on an adequate sea infrastructure. The sea highway initiative, if it goes as planned, would obviously go hand in hand with our programme to achieve at least 500 cruise calls next year,” Ms. Wiryanti told the Jakarta Post.
Indonesia’s cruise sector has a wealth of untapped potential, and has witnessed rapid growth in recent years, as it expands from a very low base. According to the Tourism and Creative Economy Ministry, the country recorded 309 cruise visits in 2013, with a total of 159,578 passengers. That represents a 500% increase from the number recorded in 2001, and the ministry is targeting half a million cruise passengers and 700 port calls in 2016.
“I personally think that we can actually achieve more than that, as long as it is supported with infrastructure, because not all of our seaports can now accommodate cruise ships,” Wiryanti added.
As of 2013, Indonesia had 113 points of entry for different types of cruise ships. A total of 150 ports of call are expected to be available by 2016 in order to achieve the tourist target.
Data from the Central Statistics Agency (BPS) showed that 4.55 million foreign tourists visited the archipelago between January and June this year, an increase of 9.5% from 4.15 million in the same period of 2013. Authorities are aiming to achieve 25 million international tourism arrivals to Indonesia by 2019.
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