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he Australian tourism office is preparing for a more intense partnership with Indonesian industry players, particularly in air travel and tourism agencies, in an attempt to tap into Indonesia'€™s growing number of outbound travelers.

Tourism Australia managing director John O'€™Sullivan said that his office was working closely with Indonesia'€™s national carrier Garuda Indonesia on various partnerships, including the offering of travel packages, which would encourage more Indonesians to come to Australia.

'€œIndonesia is becoming more successful today and we are looking for more opportunities. It'€™s an important market for us because of their proximity and their wealthy middle class. Potentially by 2020, it could be an over A$2 billion (US$1.54 billion) market,'€ O'€™Sullivan said recently.

The number of Indonesian visitors to Australia has been increasing in the last few years, although the total numbers traveling there remained low compared to other Asian destinations.

About 7 million international visitors went to Australia last year. Of those, the number of Indonesian visitors was 150,200 people, a 6.2 percent increase on figures recorded in 2013. The figure also placed Indonesia as the 12th largest inbound market for visitor arrivals to Australia.

Further increase is expected for this year'€™s total following a significant rise in Indonesian visitors early in the year. During the first two months of this year, as many as 21,600 Indonesians arrived in Australia, compared to 19,600 people in the same period of 2014, an increase of approximately 10.2 percent.

However, the total spending dropped despite the increase in the numbers of Indonesian tourists.

The total spending by Indonesians was only A$0.6 billion last year, down 12 percent compared with a year earlier. '€œWe are watching this [the decline in spending], but we don'€™t see any alarm bells for the moment,'€ O'€™Sullivan said.

Apart from the partnership with Garuda, Tourism Australia will also try to penetrate the Indonesian market more with the help of travel agencies, particularly at the premium end of the market as well as specialty programs, according to O'€™Sullivan.

'€œWe will also continue our marketing platform for Restaurant Australia as well as our coastal and aquatic campaigns,'€ he said.

Cuisine, wildlife, wine and international sports events have long been the main attractions that Australia has offered its international tourists.

Most Indonesian travelers cited holidaying as their main purpose for visiting Australia, followed by visiting friends and relatives, according to figures provided by Tourism Australia. They also said that a safe and secure destination was their most important factor when planning trips.

The state of Victoria is one of the most popular places for Indonesians. Figures from Tourism Victoria showed that as many as 50,000 Indonesian visitors were welcomed there last year, an increase of 17.8 percent compared to a year earlier.

Due to the two digit increase, Indonesia'€™s tourism is one of the most important growth markets for Victoria at the moment, according to Tourism Victoria'€™s Zoe Shurgold.

'€œHowever, this is a very young market where young professionals come to do fun things like going out to bars and restaurants. We are still focusing on Melbourne as a brand, however, the opportunity is there to get them to start talking about what'€™s around,'€ she said.

Therefore, according to Shurgold, the tourism office is currently trying to establish a deeper partnership with Indonesian agencies with the aim of promoting more of Victoria'€™s attractions and events.