Tourism
From The Report: Indonesia 2017
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The world’s fourth-most-populous nation, Indonesia boasts unique cultures, World Heritage Sites, pristine beaches, unparalleled diving and some of the world’s rarest wildlife. Its tropical climate and balmy temperatures of between 28°C and 34°C in coastal areas with little variation from one season to the next, make the archipelagic nation an ideal beach holiday destination. Indeed, Indonesia should be one of the world’s leading tourist destinations, yet it has consistently ranked behind neighbouring Thailand and Malaysia in tourist arrivals. Since taking office in 2014, the government of President Joko Widodo has been working hard to change that. It has recognized tourism as a major pillar of economic growth and set a target of 20m foreign visitors by 2020, when the industry is expected to be Indonesia’s biggest source of foreign exchange earnings.

This chapter contains an interview with Arief Yahya, Minister of Tourism.

Articles from this Chapter

Overview

Natural attraction: The government is taking a multi-pronged approach in order to bolster visitor numbers
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The world’s fourth-most-populous nation, Indonesia boasts unique cultures, World Heritage Sites, pristine beaches, unparalleled diving and some of the world’s rarest wildlife. Its tropical climate and balmy temperatures of between 28°C and 34°C in coastal areas and 23°C in the mountain areas, with little variation from one season to the next, make the archipelagic nation an ideal beach holiday destination. Indeed, Indonesia should be one of the world’s leading tourist destinations, yet it…

Analysis

Growth markets: The authorities are looking to bring in an increasing number of visitors from China and India
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For decades, Singaporeans and Malaysians were the leading visitors to Indonesia, but as the government embarks on plans to increase the number of tourists and the industry’s contribution to GDP, it is looking beyond its South-east Asian neighbours. Top of its list is China, home to more than 1bn people. According to market research group GfK, 109m Chinese travelled overseas in 2015, spending $229bn. “In order to reach 12m foreign tourists in 2016 and 20m by 2020, China is the number-one priority,”…

Interview

Strong and growing: OBG talks to Arief Yahya, Minister of Tourism
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Interview:Arief Yahya What is Indonesia’s standing in global tourism? ARIEF YAHYA: Currently, Indonesia’s travel and tourism sector contributes $82.4bn – or 9.6% – of total GDP. Although this is high, it is still lower than regional competitors such as Thailand (20%) and Malaysia (16%). Regarding foreign exchange revenues, Indonesia ranked 9th in 2014, with $11.17bn, again behind Thailand and Malaysia, which had $38.44bn and $21.82bn, respectively. Nevertheless, this only shows the…

Analysis

Digital future: The industry is tapping into the growth of e-commerce
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Indonesians are among the most connected people on earth. They are the largest group of Facebook users and eager adopters of mobile apps like ride-sharing service Go-Jek and e-commerce marketplace app Tokopedia, which achieved growth of 600% in just two years, between 2011 and 2013. Out of a population of over 250m people, some 72.7m Indonesians are active on the internet, while 64m are active users of social media via mobile devices. Indeed, with a cellular penetration rate of 121%, nearly everyone…

Analysis

Top sites: Efforts are under way to replicate Bali’s success in 10 destinations across the nation
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Bali is Indonesia’s tourist juggernaut; a tropical island whose unique Hindu culture and natural beauty entranced a generation of artists in the early 20th century and fuelled the development of a tourism industry virtually unmatched in South-east Asia. The government has long sought to entice visitors beyond Bali, but its initiatives have so far had little success. Some 41% of all visitors to Indonesia went to Bali in 2015, while Bali, the capital Jakarta and Batam, which borders Singapore, together…