T

he number of tourists visiting Jakarta has leveled off in recent times, but the Tourism Ministry expects that its new Tanjung Lesung and Thousand Islands tourism development programs will revive growth in the capital city'€™s tourism.

Foreign tourist arrivals grew by a mere 0.33 percent in the January-September period of this year, to 1.7 million visits, from the same period last year. On a monthly basis, tourist visits to Jakarta dropped 15.9 percent in September, to 212,706 visits, compared with August'€™s figures.

Asia-Pacific promotion director at the Tourism Ministry, Vinsensius Jemadu, said Jakarta'€™s foreign tourist arrivals had held up from the previous year as a result of the city'€™s heavy reliance on the meetings, incentives, conference and exhibition (MICE) sector.

'€œJakarta is very seasonal, when there are big conferences, there is an increase [in visitors],'€ Vinsensius said. Indonesia'€™s economic activities have been slowing down along with weak economic growth that reached 4.73 percent recently, from over 6 percent in 2013.

'€œIn the tourism cycle, there is a climax phase, and when it reaches that point, there should be action to rejuvenate it, be it product diversification or added services. Otherwise it'€™ll remain stagnant,'€ he added.

The stalling visitor growth has been in evidence for the last few years. Tourist arrivals through Jakarta'€™s Soekarno-Hatta International Airport grew by only 0.2 percent from 2013 to 2014, when 2.24 million foreign tourist arrivals were recorded.

'€œThat'€™s why now I want to develop Tanjung Lesung in Banten, near Jakarta, and Thousand Islands in Jakarta, so the lengths of stay will also be longer,'€ he said, comparing Jakarta with Bali, which has also seen robust development in its MICE industry but which is also backed up by its non-business tourism sector.

Jakarta and Bali are two of the three main gates to Indonesia as they, along with Batam, account for 90 percent of total foreign tourist arrivals in Indonesia.

However, in comparison to Jakarta, the number of tourists who arrived in Indonesia through Ngurah Rai International Airport in Bali increased by 6.3 percent, to 2.93 million visitors, during January to September, compared to the same period last year, despite volcanic eruptions that forced the airport to close frequently.

Vinsensius said that currently, the government was on progress in developing the toll road to Tanjung Lesung to improve connectivity to the area, as well as working with the Jakarta government to improve the cleanliness of Thousand Islands.

With the improvement of the two destinations, the ministry hopes to attract 3.3 million tourists next year to Jakarta, up more than 20 percent from this year'€™s expected 2.7 million tourists.

Both Tanjung Lesung and Thousand Islands are among the 10 tourism spots chosen by the government for the focus of its tourism development this year. Other destinations include Lake Toba in North Sumatra and Morotai in Maluku.

The move is expected to help the government achieve its target of welcoming 20 million foreign tourists in 2019, double the 10 million visits expected this year. It is also expected to double its foreign exchange income from tourism to US$20 billion.

Based on the ministry'€™s data, Tanjung Lesung, which champions marine tourism, is projected to attract US$1 billion of foreign exchange income and 1 million visits in the future, while Thousand Islands is expected to attract $500 million and 500,000 tourists. The critical factor for the success of both, according to the data, is infrastructure. (fsu)