Indonesia wants to create 10 'New Bali' to draw Chinese tourists

News24xx.com - JAKARTA — China is on track to become the biggest tourist market for Indonesia for the first time this year, overtaking Singapore. That's after a 46 per cent surge in visitors from the world's second-largest economy to 1.4 million in the first eight months of the year.

"All over the world they are trying to catch the Chinese market," Indonesia's Tourism Minister Arief Yahya said in an interview in Jakarta. "For sure, the easiest way to increase the number of tourists is to target China."

While Indonesia currently captures about 1 per cent of the more than 120 million Chinese who travel abroad each year, Yahya is aiming to double that, targeting advertising in key locations in China. It's a goldmine that's set to bring in billions of dollars, he said, but will also need billions of dollars in investment.

Mr Jokowi, as the president is known, has vowed to double tourist numbers to 20 million a year by 2019. Mr Jokowi wants to build 10 new Balis — a strategy that includes developing infrastructure in Sumatra in the country's west to North Maluku in the east.

Mr Jokowi's plan, according to Mr Yahya, will see the contribution of tourism to the economy climb to 7.5 per cent by 2019 from4.5 per cent last year. Tourism receipts are forecast to grow more than 60 per cent to US$20.7 billion (S$28.09 billion) over the same period, with the number of jobs seen rising to 13 million from 11.8 million.

"We hope that tourism will become Indonesia's largest source of foreign exchange contributions. I promised to Pak Jokowi and to Indonesia, I will make it happen," Mr Yahya said, reported todayonline.com. "We believe for Indonesia, tourism and the creative industry can make this country a champion in the world."*

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