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Manado set to be nation’s new tourism gem
An 11-fold increase in the number of foreign visitors is unprecedented
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An 11-fold increase in the number of foreign visitors is unprecedented. And Manado, the capital of North Sulawesi, is breaking the record.
Sam Ratulangi Airport in Manado, which in January last year only welcomed 625 foreign tourists, has seen the figure skyrocket to one 11 times higher this January, according to the Central Statistics Agency (BPS) in a recent announcement.
No other tourist destination gate has seen such exponential growth, particularly when North Sulawesi is not on the government’s top tourist destinations list, the BPS says.
Manado has emerged as a rising star among international visitors, including winning the attention of China. As a result, chartered flights from the Asian giant to the city have increased.
“We predict that Manado will become a hot destination like Bali,” Tourism Ministry assistant deputy for Asia Pacific market development Vinsensius Jemadu said on Thursday.
Vinsensus noted that in January, more than 10,000 Chinese tourists visited the city to celebrate Chinese New Year.
The ministry believes the soaring number of visitors might have started in July in line with the expansion of charter flights from domestic airlines such as Lion Air and Garuda Indonesia’s low cost subsidiary Citilink.
He said the tourists were mostly enticed by marine attractions, with Bunaken Marine National Park serving as the main destination for divers.
“With the sudden change in the last six months, there are now more Chinese restaurants and Mandarin-speaking guides there,” Vinsensius said.
Manado is mostly populated by Christians and therefore, like Hindu-majority Bali, it has a far higher tolerance for alcohol and pork dishes than other areas of the Muslim majority country.
More or less similar to Bali, Manado is also venerated for its beaches, volcanoes, rivers and lakes, as well as pristine forests.
With the current rapid growth, the government expects that foreign arrivals to Manado may jump to as high as 1 million by the end of this year, from 40,000 last year.
Indonesia is eyeing 15 million tourist arrivals this year, despite failing to reach its target of 12 million last year.
Around 11.5 million tourists visited the country last year.
This year, around 2.1 million Chinese tourists are expected to holiday in the archipelago, up from 1.43 million last year.
According to the BPS, 1.03 million foreign tourists visited Indonesia in January, a 26.58 percent increase from the same period last year.
Chinese tourists still dominate the figure with 200,197 visitors, higher than the 114,774 in January last year.
Vinsensius said that the ministry also expected more tourists from South Korea to travel to Manado this year as tourism wholesaler Bali Paradise was in talks with Jeju Air and Garuda Indonesia to open charter flights from Seoul to Manado.
“We see the possibility of 75,000 to 100,000 South Korean tourists traveling to Manado,” he said, adding that retail giant Lotte had also announced a plan to open a duty free shop in the city’s airport to welcome tourists.
Garuda Indonesia corporate communications vice president Benny S. Butarbutar said the company had calibrated its business to cope with the rising number of Chinese visitors.
The airline opened charter flights to Manado in February 2015 from Chinese cities such as Chengdu and Harbin, citing Manado and Denpasar as Chinese favorites due to their beaches.
“The load factor has reached 85 percent [on average] on Airbus A330 planes. […] We are
still mulling the possibility of opening regular flights from Manado to Guangzhou [this year],” he said.
Association of Indonesian Tour and Travel Agents (ASITA) North Sulawesi chairman Fredy Walandow said that the cheap price of flights, such as the charter flight operated by Lion Air, was what attracted Chinese tourists to Manado.
“It’s cheap. Those who come here are middle to low-income people,” he said, adding that two-way charter flights could be as cheap as 2000 yuan ($284.3).
