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Target of 15 million tourist arrivals is achievable: Minister
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Residents pray in front of three sacred lion effigies during the Ngedeblag ritual in Kemenuh village, Gianyar, Bali. (JP/Zul Trio Anggono)
T
he Tourism Ministry is largely optimistic that it can achieve its goal of welcoming 15 million tourists to Indonesia this year, Tourism Minister Arief Yahya said on Tuesday.
“According to our calculations, if tourism grows by 10 percent [this year], we’ll get 13.5 million tourists,” he said following a meeting at the State Palace in Central Jakarta, adding that within the next 11 months, there would still be room to increase the number of foreign tourist arrivals.
China will remain the country’s most sought-after market, but Indonesia also expects to see 1.5 million additional tourists from across the Southeast Asian region this year following the recent ASEAN Tourism Forum (ATF).
(Read also: Call to all tourists: Visit ASEAN, spend more, stay longer)
Furthermore, Arief said ATF members had agreed to increase joint promotions of the region as part of celebrations for 50 years of ASEAN.
“This will be beneficial to Indonesia, as our tourist numbers are still relatively low compared to our neighbors. While we have around 10 to 12 million tourists, Malaysia has 25 million, Singapore has 15 million and Thailand has 30 million,” he said.
Indonesia expects to see an increase to 20 million tourist arrivals by 2019. (bbn)
