Indonesia, China cooperate to boost tourist arrivals

The Tourism Ministry, in cooperation with Chinese provincial tourism administrations, aims to raise the number of tourist arrivals from China by 50 percent to 2.1 million in 2017 from 1.4 million last year.

The ministry’s director for Asia-Pacific tourism promotion, Vinsensius Jemadu, said that this year’s increase would be part of Indonesia’s target to attract 10 million Chinese visitors by 2019.

“China is our strategic partner and main market for tourism. Therefore in the Tourism Ministry, China gets more than 50 percent of its budget for promotion,” he said in a meeting with Hubei tourism administration in Jakarta on Friday.

Vinsensius further said that aside from cooperation with the Hubei tourism administration, the ministry had also established cooperation with China’s Hainan tourism administration.

“Next month, Hainan Airlines and Capital Airlines can fly to Jakarta three times a week,” he said.

Citilink, a subsidiary of national flag carrier Garuda Indonesia, was expected to fly to 17 cities in China from Tanjung Pinang in Riau Islands and Manado in North Sulawesi, based on the memorandum of understanding (MoU) signed by the Indonesian tourism minister in Beijing last year, Vincensius said.

The ministry offers an incentive of US$15 (Rp200,895) or $20 per passenger to airlines and wholesalers bringing visitors to Indonesian destinations outside of Bali and Jakarta. In addition, the Transportation Ministry will provide licenses of direct flights and offer free parking and landing to aircraft from Chinese airlines.