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RI fails to attract more Chinese visitors despite ambitious target
The number of Chinese tourists visiting Indonesia has been on the decline in recent months despite the government’s ambition to attract 10 million tourists from the world’s second-largest economy
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span>The number of Chinese tourists visiting Indonesia has been on the decline in recent months despite the government’s ambition to attract 10 million tourists from the world’s second-largest economy.
Statistics Indonesia (BPS) announced on Tuesday that the number of Chinese visiting Indonesia declined by 5.28
percent to 1.77 million during the first 10 months of the year from 1.87 million in the same period of 2018.
BPS head Suhariyanto told reporters that the decline in the number of tourist arrivals from China might have been caused by its government’s efforts to boost its domestic tourism amid the slowing down of its economy.
According to Reuters, with its cooling economy, mainland Chinese tourists are cutting back on trips and spending abroad with a weaker yuan, political turmoil in Hong Kong and global tensions dampening their enthusiasm to travel too far from home. Many local governments across the country had ramped up tourism campaigns and promises of cheaper holidays in the run-up to the National Day holidays this year.
Suhariyanto said that China remained the second-largest contributor to Indonesia’s foreign tourist arrivals after Malaysia with 2.58 million tourists in the January-October period, followed by Singapore with 1.55 million, Australia with 1.15 million and Timor Leste with 1.02 million. In October, the number of tourist arrivals from China declined by 12.5 percent to 160,400 from 183,400 in the same month of 2018.
Indonesian Tourism Expert Association chairman Azril Azhari told The Jakarta Post that Indonesia might fail to achieve its target of attracting 18 million foreign tourists in 2019.
“Indonesia will most likely bring in a maximum of 17 million tourists this year,” he said.
Azril suggested that the government focus more on targeting and increasing revenue from foreign tourists rather than the number of tourist arrivals so that tourism’s contribution to the economy could be improved.
According to an annual report from the University of Indonesia’s Institute for Economic and Community Research, tourism contributed just 1.9 percent to the country’s GDP in 2017.
Azril acknowledged that Chinese visitors mostly came from middle-income backgrounds. Furthermore, they used their own currency and made their transactions with Chinese companies during their stay in Indonesia, so their contribution to Indonesia’s economy was minimal.
In order to boost the country’s revenue from foreign tourists, Indonesia should improve the attractiveness of its tourist destinations and the competitiveness of its services, particularly with regard to hygiene, safety, the environment and infrastructure, he said.
Chinese Ambassador to Indonesia Xiao Qian said earlier this year that despite Indonesia being a favorable destination for Chinese tourists, the country needed to improve its tourism infrastructure to attract more tourists.
Indonesia should also provide more accessible flight options, information for tourists in Chinese languages and
Chinese-speaking tour guides, he added.
Due to the ongoing political unrest in Hong Kong, the region also showed a decline in tourists coming to Indonesia. The number of visitors from Hong Kong in October dropped by 54.58 percent to 3,500 from 7,800 in the same month last year. (mfp)
