anjung Lesung Beach, one of the destinations branded a new Bali by the central government, in Banten province on the western tip of Java, has received an investment commitment of US$1 billion from a Chinese investor to upgrade tourism facilities in the area.
The commitment was stipulated in a letter of intent (LoI) between Yunnan Ice Sea Investment Group president director Wei Xiao Lin and Jababeka Budianto president director Budianto Liman during an investment, trade and tourism forum in Beijing on Friday.
The document exchange was witnessed by Tourism Minister Arief Yahya and Indonesian Ambassador to China Djauhari Oratmangun.
Tanjung Lesung is one of 10 destinations branded as New Balis, for which the government has set an investment target of $35 billion by 2024.
Arief said that in the last four years, $12 billion had been invested to develop tourism infrastructure and facilities.
“We still need $23 billion more in capital injection to develop our tourism sector by developing hotels, restaurants, recreation parks, seaports and other facilities,” Minister Arief said as quoted by Antara news agency.
He said China had been the largest contributor to tourist arrivals in the last three years. He added that in 2017, Indonesia had welcomed 1.97 million Chinese tourists, an increase of 35.7 percent compared to 2016.
He said in 2018, the government targeted 17 million tourist arrivals, 2.6 million of which were expected to come from China.
He added that from January to October, the country had welcomed 1.87 million tourists from China. (bbn)
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