Deputy Secretary of International Tourism Marketing Development Ni Wayan Giri Adnyani stated in Jakarta on Wednesday that his office had promoted the countrys "Wonderful Indonesia" brand at the yoga festival.
"This is the biggest yoga festival, followed by 91 countries in the world," she noted.
According to Adnyani, there is high potential to promote the "Wonderful Indonesia" brand at such a grand event.
She remarked that Indonesia can maximize its efforts to promote the countrys tourism destinations at the event, especially those that offer religious and yoga tourism packages.
"The Ministry of Tourism had participated in the festival by presenting Ayu Laksmi from the Svara Semesta group that featured dances and songs at the opening ceremony and the events held at the International Yoga Festival and at the Rishikesh Art & Film Festival," Adnyani pointed out.
The Indonesian delegates who participated in the event included Indra Udayana, the initiator of the Indonesia-India Sanggam, and Anjasmara of the Yoga Association of Indonesia.
For conducting promotional activities, Indonesia had presented a pavilion or "Wonderful Indonesia" booths at two different venues.
"The Wonderful Indonesia booths were at two different places: at the yoga festivals venue and the art film festivals opening venue," he stated.
On the occasion, Indonesia also cooperated with several industry players in India to participate in marketing tourism packages to the country, including with the NK Enterprises from New Delhi, which sells tour packages to Indonesia, notably to Bali.
"Most visitors are more interested in Bali, but other destinations were also promoted to them," he emphasized.
Adnyani noted that the promotion of Indonesian tourism through the "Wonderful Indonesia" brand during the festival grabbed the attention of over 10 thousand people. It was able to boost the popularity of Indonesia as the worlds favorite tourist destination.
Promoting the archipelagos tourism sector in this "City of the Divine" of India is a strategic move, as Indonesia also has several interesting destinations for practicing the art of yoga, and India is a potential market, which has yet to be tapped optimally.
At present, with its growing number of outbound tourists, India has become an important contributor of foreign visitors to Indonesia, he pointed out.
Several factors that may have attracted them to visit Indonesia are related to the two nations cultural similarities and the archipelagos diverse tourist destinations. The increasing trend of Indian travelers visiting the archipelago is also driven by Garuda Indonesias Mumbai-Jakarta flight.
With its diverse tourist destinations, Indonesia has plenty to offer to Indian travelers. Hence, it is necessary to implement various promotional strategies to attract more outbound tourists from the country.
Promoting the Wonderful Indonesia brand in India is expected to strengthen the positive image of the archipelagos tourism sector and to attract more Indian travelers to visit Indonesia.
The Indonesian Tourism Ministry has noted that the biggest contributors of foreign tourists to Indonesia in 2015 were Singapore, with 1,571,982 visitors; Malaysia, with 1,247,270; China, with 1,141,330; Australia, with 1,051,141; Japan, with 528,465; South Korea, with 359,468; India, with 293,415; the UK, with 280,198; the US, with 263,429; and Taiwan, with 211,528.
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