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ne of Indonesia’s biggest travel agencies, the Panorama Group, plans to open marketing offices in Beijing, China and Labuan Bajo, West Nusa Tenggara, this year, says group CEO Budi Tirtawisata.

Budi said the office in Labuan Bajo would be opened next week while the one in Beijing should be open no later than September.

“China is a promising market and we want to manage this market seriously. We will be working closely with local partners in China in order to attract a lot of tourists to Indonesia,” Budi said in Jakarta on Wednesday on the sidelines of the company’s 40th anniversary.

Of the approximately 170,000 foreign tourists who used Panorama’s services last year, China contributed less than 10 percent. Budi said that after opening their sales office in China, they planned to increase the number of tourists from that country by at least 20 percent.

According to recent data from the Tourism and Creative Economy Ministry, tourists from China saw double digit growth from 320,000 in 2010 to 356,000 in 2011.

The ministry has set a target of 1 million tourists from China within the next few years.

Budi said Panorama currently had more than 75 branches all over Indonesia and regional offices in Kuala Lumpur, Singapore and a newly opened Paris office.

In addition, the group opened their Labuan Bajo office in order to spread their wings into eastern Indonesia.

“Labuan Bajo will be the business hub in eastern Indonesia. It is near the Komodo dragon island,” he said.

He said that infrastructure remains the biggest barrier to the expansion of business into the east, but he took that as a challenge.

He said that Panorama did not want to miss the chance to explore the east.

“Eastern Indonesia has a lot to offer and we have to exploit it. This will benefit the people of Indonesia and increase our revenue,” he said.

Panorama said that expanding their business in eastern Indonesia would benefit them a lot because Bali, West Nusa Tenggara and East Nusa Tenggara form the sixth economic corridor planned as a tourism gate.

Panorama is an integrated group of companies focusing on tourism, transportation, hospitality and related business.

Currently they have more than 1,000 buses, coaches and premium taxis serving tourists.

They also have several two- and four-star hotels in Bali, Bogor and Yogyakarta.

The group booked a 19 percent increase in revenue from Rp 1.6 trillion (US$174.4 million) in 2010 to Rp 2.1 trillion last year. (nfo)