TheJakartaPost
Please Update your browser
Your browser is out of date, and may not be compatible with our website. A list of the most popular web browsers can be found below.
Just click on the icons to get to the download page.
RI courting business deals at ASEAN tourism exhibition
Indonesia is seeking business deals at a regional travel exhibition held in Brunei Darussalam as the country focuses on tourism to help drive economic growth
Change Size
I
span>Indonesia is seeking business deals at a regional travel exhibition held in Brunei Darussalam as the country focuses on tourism to help drive economic growth.
Indonesian tourism players along with the Tourism and Creative Economy Ministry are taking part in the Travel Exchange (Travex) exhibition held from Tuesday to Thursday at the Bridex Exhibition Hall, Jerudong, as part of the region’s biggest annual tourism event: the ASEAN Tourism Forum (ATF).
In the three-day exhibition, industry players will have business-to-business meetings with about 143 potential buyers from travel agencies and tour operators from 43 countries around the world.
“We’re aiming for as many transactions as possible in this year's Travex. Last year, we made a lot of transactions,” said the ministry's division head of Promotion Area III (covering Kalimantan, Sabah, Serawak, Malaysia and Brunei Darussalam), Sapto Harjono, in Jerudong on Tuesday.
During the 2019 Travex, Indonesia took home US$8.21 million for 60,316 tourism products, ranging from tour packages to hotel bookings. There were, in addition, 658 business-to-business meetings held during last year’s exhibition.
_________
“The ASEAN member countries in the ATF recognize the need to keep pace and adapt to innovations and changing travel patterns, behaviors and traveler preferences in the digital era.”
_________
The government has set its sights on tourism to help boost the economy amid cooling investment and falling exports. It has named five super-priority tourism destinations to be developed as the “new Balis” to attract more international tourists.
The tourism ministry has also allocated Rp 9.3 trillion ($656.8 million) until 2020 to finance basic infrastructure development at the destinations, which are Lake Toba in North Sumatra, Borobudur temple in Central Java, Labuan Bajo in East Nusa Tenggara (NTT), Mandalika in West Nusa Tenggara (NTB) and Likupang in North Sulawesi.
Sapto said ATF’s Travex was a very effective way for travel agents, tour operators, resorts and hotels in Indonesia to sell their products to overseas buyers.
“The buyers are travel agents from other countries that will later sell the packages to their customers,” he told The Jakarta Post.
To this year’s Travex, Indonesia has brought about 30 tourism industry players. Businesspeople from other ASEAN countries, including Thailand, Vietnam, Cambodia, Malaysia and Brunei Darussalam, are also participating in the exhibition.
The ASEAN Tourism Forum is an annual event for tourism industry stakeholders in the 10 ASEAN member countries. The forum runs from Jan. 12 to 16, and Brunei is hosting several meetings and forums to discuss tourism cooperation in the region.
“The ASEAN member countries in the ATF recognize the need to keep pace and adapt to innovations and changing travel patterns, behaviors and traveler preferences in the digital era,” said Brunei Darussalam's Primary Resources and Tourism Minister Dato Seri Setia Awang Haji Ali Bin Apong in his keynote speech at the forum’s opening ceremony in Jerudong on Tuesday evening.
“Today, when more people are going online, tourists can easily customize their personal preferences, find information online and have easy access to online reservations at tourism destinations,” he added.
To that end, he continued, the association would launch its revamped tourism website at the event to cater to the modern needs of tourism and provide a more digital experience for tourists.
The updated website seeks to provide the most credible information about ASEAN tourism. It can also direct travelers to an online marketplace for accommodation and transportation in ASEAN countries.
ASEAN tourism has grown significantly over the past decade. The region has seen consistent yearly increases in international arrivals. There were 123 million international arrivals in 2019 at all international airports in Southeast Asia, an increase of 7 percent from the previous year. Intra-ASEAN arrivals accounted for 37 percent of the total international arrivals.
The Post was invited to cover the ASEAN Tourism Forum from Jan. 13 to 17 by the Tourism and Creative Economy Ministry.
