The Ministry of Tourism of Indonesia (MoT) continues to aggressively promote “Wonderful Indonesia” in the Indian market which is considered as one of potential markets for Indonesian tourism. Later this month MoT will hold a sales mission event entitled Sales Mission India 2016 in Hyderabad and New Delhi from January MoT invited eight Indonesian tourism and hospitality industries to join the Indonesia’s sales mission to India. They will have the opportunity to meet hundreds of business counterparts in India. The event’s core activities are business to business (B2B) meetings in a tabletop setting which are expected to generate millions of dollars in mutual business.
In 2016, MoT is targeting 350,000 Indian visitor arrivals after managed to attract 262,000 visitors in 2015. Part of this optimistic forecast is based on the recent regulation of giving Indian citizens 30-day, visa-free entry into Indonesia for tourism purpose (as per Regulation no. 104/2015). Such growth could actually be higher, but presently it is constrained by the absence of direct flight between India and Indonesia.
Thus, the Indonesian Minister of Tourism, Mr. Arief Yahya took the initiative to ask the Ministry of Transportation authorities to open direct flights from and to the pockets of Indian tourists. This year, Garuda Indonesia, the national airline of Indonesia, also promised to open Mumbai – Jakarta / Bali route.
As part of the sales mission, the MoT delegation will also participate in the largest tourism exhibition in South Asia, SATTE. This Sales Mission in January is deliberately planned to be a supporting event to Indonesia’s participation at SATTE which will take place January 29 to As you may aware, SATTE, which is held once a year, is a B2B exhibition where hundreds of industries from many countries interact, negotiate, and do business with each other. Last year SATTE was joined by 650 participants from 35 countries and 26 states of India and Assistant Deputy of Asia Pacific Market Development of the Ministry of Tourism, Mr. Vinsensius (Vinsen) Jemadu explained “SATTE is an annual event and a pure B2B trade and in the three days that has a lot of business transactions going in”. He praised SATTE because the Ministry can clearly evaluate its output in terms of amount of business conducted, how many tourist transactions are going on and so forth.
Proudly starting the beginning of this year, Wonderful Indonesia also marked its prestigious achievement in the 12th UNWTO Awards. Situated on the eastern edge of Java Island, just across the island of Bali, theBanyuwangi Regency in East Java Province has successfully won the prestigious UNWTO Award in Innovation in Public Policy and Governance at the 12th UNWTO Awards Ceremony which was held in conjunction with the Madrid International Tourism Trade Fair (FITUR / IFEMA) in Madrid, Spain, 20thJanuary 2016.
In addition, Garuda Indonesia Airline-Coca Cola Amatil Bali Beach Cleanup program was awarded the First Runner Up in the UNWTO Award for Innovation in Enterprises.Completing the list of winners from Indonesia, the Karang Lestari Foundation with the Coral Reef Reborn Program along the coast of Pemuteran, North Bali also took First Runner Up in the UNWTO Award for Innovation in Non-Governmental Organizations. Thus, from the total of 4 categories, Indonesia managed to place 3 representatives in each with one emerging as the top winner. Since its inception in 2003, the UNWTO Awards have recognized more than seventy institutions for their innovative tourism initiatives.
