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Growth of foreign MICE visitors stagnant
Amid the growth of tourist arrivals over the past years, the meetings, incentives, conventions and exhibitions (MICE) sector remains largely untapped due to poor infrastructure and facilities
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Amid the growth of tourist arrivals over the past years, the meetings, incentives, conventions and exhibitions (MICE) sector remains largely untapped due to poor infrastructure and facilities.
Only around 3 percent of the 8.8 million foreign tourists last year were MICE visitors, Tourism and Creative Economy Ministry deputy director of MICE and special interest Martini Paham said.
Although the share of foreign MICE arrivals has increased from 2.1 percent in 2012, when 169,243 foreign MICE visitors came to Indonesia, it remains a small contributor to tourist arrivals.
'We aim to triple the number of MICE visitors by 2019 [...] on the back of the government's strong commitment to develop the industry,' Martini told The Jakarta Post recently, in reference to the draft of National Mid Term Development Plan (RPJMN) for 2015-2019.
As the economy continues to grow, businesses also expand and as such, the need for MICE should accelerate.
Tourism and Creative Economy Minister Mari Elka Pangestu previously said that to tap in to both foreign and domestic visitors, the government should improve tourism transportation facilities and promotion activities for 16 cities across the archipelago declared MICE destinations.
The cities include Bandung, West Java; Batam, Riau Islands; Denpasar, Bali; Jakarta; Medan, North Sumatra; Makassar, South Sulawesi; Manado, North Sulawesi; Mataram, West Nusa Tenggara; Surabaya, East Java; and Yogyakarta.
'MICE sector has the potential to grow, which is in line with economic growth and the public's increased income,' Mari said.
However, according to Martini, only Jakarta and Denpasar, Bali, have seen growth in the sector on the back of the cities' accessibility, supporting infrastructure, facilities and human resources.
Data from the ministry estimates that only 10 percent of venues fall into the 'large' category of being able to accommodate up to 3,000 people.
The capital city only has two convention centers ' the Jakarta Convention Center and JIEXPO in Kemayoran.
Next year, the Indonesia Convention Exhibition (ICE) center, in BSD City in South Tangerang is due to be completed.
The ICE will offer 50,000 square meters of hall space,50,000 square meters of open-air display space and a 4,000 square-meter convention center.
The convention will be operated by German-based exhibition company Deutsche Messe AG, and is expected to bolster the country's exhibition and convention space by 25 percent.
As a comparison, neighboring countries have already established substantial facilities to support their MICE industry.
Singapore has the 120,000-square-meter Marina Bay Sands, Thailand has the 140,000-square-meter IMPACT convention hall in Bangkok, China has the 300,000-square-meter Shanghai New International Expo Center (SNIEC).
Domestic tourists have played a big role in developing the MICE sector.
One directorate general at the Public Works Ministry, according to Martini when citing an example, holds a national coordinating meeting twice a year for 1,500 people.
'This is only a number of one directorate general from one ministry, and we haven't calculated other ministries or associations,' she added.
