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Indonesia eyes tourists from neighboring countries
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The recent volcanic activity of Mount Agung in Karangasem has impacted Bali's tourism with numerous flight cancellations resulting in low hotel occupancy. (Shutterstock/File)
T
he Tourism Ministry is eyeing travelers from Southeast Asian countries in its efforts to achieve its target of 17 million foreign tourist arrivals next year.
“We see the potential of tourists from Singapore, Malaysia, the Philippines, Brunei and Vietnam,” said Tourism Ministry Southeast Asia market promotion head Rizki Handayani Mustafa in Mangapura, Bali, on Thursday.
Rizki said Many Malaysians, for example, were reluctant to visit Bali because they worried that it would be difficult to get halal food in the resort island.
Read also: Going all out to save Bali tourism as threat eases
Meanwhile, she added, that promotion was also needed because many Malaysians still did know about tourist destinations in Indonesia.
“We need to distribute brochures about Bali tourism in Malaysia that also inform about the places where they can easily get halal food,” she said, adding that Indonesia could still be able to increase the number of tourist arrivals from Singapore.
Many destinations in Indonesia could become travel destinations for tourists from Southeast Asian countries because of the proximity, Rizki said.
“To help Bali tourism recover, we need to eye markets in neighboring countries,” she added as reported by Antara.
Meanwhile, for Thailand, Indonesia needed to approach aviation firms and tourism operators because the country is also major tourism destination for international tourists. “Tourism businesspeople in Bali have to be able to attract foreign tourists who visit Thailand.”
Rizki acknowledged that the average length of stay of Southeast Asian tourists was only about three to four days, but their spending was promising. (bbn)
