T

he Bali Beyond Travel Fair (BBTF) is being held for the third time in Bali, showcasing Indonesia’s diverse archipelago and its potential to attract tourists from all over the world.

Taking place from Thursday to Saturday, the BBTF — the largest travel and tourism fair in Indonesia — brought together 154 tourism operators and businesspeople. The event is expected to facilitate transactions worth a total of Rp 6.8 trillion (US$510 million).

Tourist attractions from all over Indonesia during the travel expo, promoting the endless beauty of nature and culture of the vast country. The participants, consisting of tourism stakeholders from provinces nationwide, had the chance to directly promote the tourism potential of their respective areas to international buyers.

Bali was chosen as the venue as it is currently the gateway of the Indonesian archipelago for global travelers, with the island getting up to 40 percent of all foreign visitors to the country annually.

Although the event always takes place in Bali, participating provinces take turns hosting and setting the theme each year. This year’s host is Tana Toraja regency, South Sulawesi.

Tourism Minister Arief Yahya claimed that in its third year the BBTF had become increasingly popular in the tourism industry worldwide, as proven by the growing number of international buyers. Eighty percent of the buyers came from overseas.

“This travel fair has been a prominent forum for the tourist industry and has the potential to support
our target of attracting 20 million foreign tourists to Indonesia by 2019,” the minister said after opening the forum.

He said the country’s tourism stakeholders put high hopes on the BBTF becoming one of the world’s biggest travel fairs and promote Indonesia’s tourism potential.

“In addition to participating in international tourism fairs, like the ITB Berlin, which is currently the largest one in the world, we should also organize our own forum because it would bring greater benefit for us,” he said.

He estimated that the value of transactions at the BBTF could reach $520 million, similar to the value that Indonesia reaped by participating in this year’s ITB Berlin.

Ketut Ardana, head of the BBTF organizing committee, said the 222 buyers came from 30 countries worldwide. Of the 222, 63 were platinum buyers, which means they had been able to welcome 10,000 tourists to their respective areas each year.

Ardana said in the BBTF this year, the committee organized a post-show tour to several areas in Indonesia to provide opportunities for the buyers to get a first-hand experience of Indonesia’s attractive destinations.