T

he Tourism and Creative Economy Ministry along with the Indonesian Tourism Promotion Board (BPPI) officially opened the third Indonesia Tourism and Creative Economy Fair (ITCEF) in Jakarta on Friday as part of their annual campaign to promote domestic tourist destinations.

Around 160 exhibitors, including tourism associations, travel agents, hotels, spas and tourism schools, as well as creative industry businesses are participating in the event, which runs from Aug. 29 to 31 at the Jakarta Convention Center.

The organizers expect transactions made during the three-day event to amount to Rp 20 billion (US$1.7 million).

'€œWe expect to book up to Rp 20 billion in total transactions this year, an increase from Rp 15 billion last year, as more exhibitors are participating in this event as compared to last year, and they are offering interesting packages to the visitors,'€ BPPI chairwoman Wiryanti Sukamdani told reporters.

The ministry expects that around 50,000 domestic and international visitors will attend the fair, including exhibition organizers, tourism and creative economy associations as well as the general public.

Tourism and Creative Economy Minister Mari Elka Pangestu previously said the number of foreign tourists was forecast to reach 9.7 million by the end of this year, higher than the initial target of 9.5 million, on the back of the country'€™s improving accessibility.

According to the ministry'€™s draft 2015-2019 National Mid-Term Development Plan (RPJMN), the government is aiming for higher growth in foreign tourism within the next five years as the Tourism and Creative Economy Ministry has set a target of 12.7 million foreign visitors by 2019, an almost 25 percent increase on the estimated 9.7 million inbound tourists this year.

Tourism and Creative Economy deputy minister Sapta Nirwandar said that the event was held to further promote the country'€™s
creative industries as well as travel destinations including in marine tourism.

'€œThe government is aiming to make the country'€™s marine tourism a backbone of the country'€™s
tourism development, because around 70 percent of foreign tourists come to visit our coastal areas,'€ Sapta said.

'€œHowever, cooperation among all stakeholders including the airline industry to improve infrastructure, as well as to increase seat capacity is also needed,'€ he continued.

Wiryanti supported the statement, saying that an integrated marine-tourism destination was needed to further increase the number of foreign tourists.

'€œThe government should declare the country'€™s east as the center of marine tourism, due to its diving and snorkeling destinations, and then connect the destinations with adequate infrastructure facilities and promote them as packages,'€ Wiryanti said, citing Raja Ampat in West Papua, Labuan Bajo in East Nusa Tenggara and Bunaken in North Sulawesi.

She said, however, that the country'€™s largely untapped meetings, incentives, conventions and exhibitions (MICE) industry should also be further developed to help increase the number of tourists.

With only around 3 percent of the 8.8 million foreign tourists last year being MICE visitors, the ministry aims to triple the number by 2019 as stated in the draft 2015-2019 RPJMN.