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Indonesia's booth wins at International Travel Expo Ho Chi Minh City
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Recognized as a World Heritage Site by UNESCO, Hoi An is a major tourist destination in Vietnam. (Shutterstock.com/iamtripper )
W
hile participating at the International Travel Expo Ho Chi Minh City in Vietnam that was held from September 7 to 9, Indonesia took home two awards namely ITE Best Booth Design Award and ITE Exhibitor Recognition Award.
Prior winning the awards, the Indonesian booth was also named as The Best Marine and Diving Booth in Japan and The National Booth with the Most Impressive Decoration at the Vietnam International Travel Mart (VITM) 2017. Both awards were given on the same day, April 9.
Located at Saigon Exhibition & Convention Center (SECC), the exhibition was joined by 250 exhibitors, 200 travel agents and welcomed more than 26,000 visitors.
“The Indonesian booth occupies an area of 90 sqm [equal to 10 booths] and designed to look like a Phinisi boat. We once again became the best at this B2B and B2C exhibition, we’re so grateful for this achievement and we need to maintain it,” said tourism ministry’s assistant deputy for Southeast Asian tourism promotion, Rizki Handayni.
The booth accommodated 15 tourism industries and one tourism department from Bali.
To catch visitors’ attention, the Indonesian booth showcased 3D pictures of Borobudur Temple, Ulum Danu Beratan and official brand of the upcoming Asian Games 2018 Jakarta – Palembang.
Read also: Five must-visit places in Vietnam
“Moreover, we also put on display the Pesona Indonesia’s tourist destinations on the sellers table and we are promoting tourist sites such as Borobudur Temple, National Monument (Monas), Raja Ampat, Club Aqua Bali Seawalker, North Sulawesi and Batam,” added Rizki.
Throughout the three-day exhibition, the tourism ministry had also set up several interesting gimmicks such as performances of Balinese, Jakarta and Malay traditional dances, interactive map of Indonesia, information centre, coffee and refreshment corner, digital interactive corner, quiz and games and gift redemption.
The ministry also used this opportunity to conduct an online market survey to know more about visitors and buyers’ profiles as well as asking people to vote for Wonderful Indonesia video titled “The Journey to a Wonderful World” at the UNWTO Video Tourism Competition 2017.
Phinisi boat is the symbol of marine cultural diversity in Indonesia, that is represented by Bugis tribe from Makassar, South Sulawesi. The popular traditional song “Nenek Moyangku Seorang Pelaut” (My Ancestor is a Sailor) was inspired by the boat that had been traveling the world since the 15th century.
“Phinisi is the symbol of marine tourism, one of the priority sectors that have been set by President Joko Widodo apart from infrastructure, energy, agriculture and tourism,” explained tourism minister, Arief Yahya.
Moreover, seven out of the ministry’s 10 Priority Destinations list are marine tourist destinations namely Tanjung Kelayang Belitung, Tanjung Lesung Banten, Kepulauan Seribu Jakarta, Mandalika Lombok, Labuan Bajo NTT, Wakatobi Sultra and Morotai Maltara. (asw)
