The market value of these five European countries was recorded at more than US$1 million, with the average length of stay of almost two weeks, or 13.7 days.
In 2017, Indonesia set a target of attracting 2.19 million outbound tourists from European countries, including the United Kingdom (441 thousand), France (330 thousand), Germany (306 thousand), the Netherlands (250 thousand), and Russia (100 thousand).
In reality, there were 361,197 British tourists visiting Indonesia in 2017 or increased around 9.8 percent compared to that of 2016, which was recorded at 328,882.
As of August this year, the Indonesian Ministry of Tourism recorded that there have been 264,023 British people enjoying their holidays in the archipelago.
Considering their real contribution, these European countries have undoubtedly been part of the important markets for Indonesia`s tourism industry amid the government`s target to achieve 17 million foreign tourist arrivals this year.
According to the Ministry of Tourism, the European countries are also among the top 10 contributors of foreign tourist arrivals to Indonesia besides Australia, Japan, China, South Korea, Singapore, Malaysia, India, USA, and Taiwan.
In attracting more British holidaymakers to visit the archipelago, The Indonesian Ministry of Tourism works with the Indonesian Embassy in London and 18 tourism business players for participating in the 2018 World Travel Market (WTM) London.
Taking place in Manchester on Oct 30 and in London from Nov 5 to 7, Agustini Rahayu, the Ministry of Tourism`s deputy assistant of the Indonesian Tourism Promotion for Europe, remarked that Indonesia`s sales mission at this year`s WTM was aimed at optimizing the related parties` collective efforts to lure more foreign tourists.
The sales mission engaging 18 tourism business players from Indonesia, including travel agents, and 40 British business counterparts, is expected to strengthen cooperation between them and improve the British people`s awareness of Indonesia`s tourism sector.
"We push for more business cooperation for increasing the number of British tourists coming to Indonesia," Rahayu noted, adding that the British tourist arrivals tend to show a positive trend.
In March 2017, Indonesia also conducted sales missions to Amsterdam, Paris, and Munich as part of the pre-events of the ITB (Internationale Tourismus-Bore) to lure more tourists from the Netherlands, France, and Germany.
As revealed in the Ministry of Tourism`s press statement, Indonesia used the ITB Berlin for optimizing the promotion of the Wonderful Indonesia brand in Western Europe by holding the sales missions in the three cities.
Tourism Minister Arief Yahya explained that the ministry was so serious in promoting its huge tourism potential by intensifying the Wonderful Indonesia campaign to the world as parts of its strategies to increase foreign exchange income.
Therefore, Indonesia held a sales mission as part of the ITB Berlin`s pre-events by considering the fact that Western Europe was a big contributor of foreign tourist arrivals to Indonesia, he pointed out.
The Tourism Ministry noted that the Netherlands, France, and Germany alone contributed 579,389 foreign holidaymakers to Indonesia in 2015, an increase of 2.69 percent compared to the figure recorded in 2014 (564,220 visitors).
The increasing trend of the outbound tourists from the three countries visiting the archipelago continued in 2016. Until November 2016, at least 605,327 travelers from the Netherlands, France, and Germany came to Indonesia.
During the sales mission, Indonesia`s diverse cultures and vast natural resources are often introduced to the guests. They are also entertained with a performing art and have a chance to taste Indonesia`s traditional food.
By having all these, the targeted tourists are expected to be interested in exploring Indonesia`s natural beauty, tourist destinations, as well as the hospitality, unique arts and handicrafts, music, and gastronomy of its people.
For Indonesia and many other countries, tourism sector has become one of the backbones of their economy by considering its significant contribution to state revenues and to the people`s incomes.
Therefore, the Indonesian Government and all related stakeholders of tourism sector, including the people living in tourist sites and making money from the tourism industry-related businesses, need to attempt to give excellent services to the tourists.
Of course, on top of that, the foreign travelers wish to remain safe and secure during their stay in the country. The transport safety is also integrated with the excellent services provided to them.
(T.R013/B/KR-BSR/A/R013) 01-11-2018 18:15:20
Reporter: Rahmad Nasution
Editor: Andi Abdussalam
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