A total of 350 famous black cabs and 15 tourist buses of the city got involved in supporting the advertisement of the Wonderful Indonesia brand by highlighting various popular tourist destinations across the archipelago.
Among the popular destinations that the London cabs and buses are advertising all through November this year are Lake Toba`s Siallagan-Samosir in North Sumatra Province, Mount Bromo and Ijen Crater in East Java, Borobudur Temple in Central Java, and the city of Jakarta.
The unique island of Komodo in East Nusa Tenggara where domestic and foreign visitors can see the Komodo dragons in their natural habitat, the Balinese Legong Dance, and Raja Ampat in West Papua Province are also highlighted in the taxi and bus advertising.
According to Deputy Director of Communication Strategy at the Indonesian Tourism Ministry Martini Paham, pictures of the Borobudur and Ulun Danu Beratan Temples as well as the Gebogan, or Balinese offering, were plastered all over the three open great buses.
The buses also displayed the pictures of Legong Dance and Padar Island, one of the main islands of Komodo National Park in East Nusa Tenggara Province.
Some 10 other open great buses carried a mega rear bus advertising by highlighting destinations, such as Lake Toba, Siallagan in Samosir Island, Mount Bromo, Jakarta, Padar Island, Komodo, Ijen Crater, Gandrung Dance, Raja Ampat, Legong Dance, and Gebogan.
Moreover, 350 black cabs also carried pictures of similar tourist destinations to be promoted for 30 days of November, while two other open great buses promoted the Wonderful Indonesia tourism brand for five weeks.
Indonesian Tourism Minister Arief Yahya and Deputy Chief of Mission at the Indonesian Embassy in London Adam Mulawarman Tugio along with several Tourism Ministry officials, including Samsriyono and M. Noer Sadono, undertook a sightseeing tour of London.
During the sightseeing tour, they visited several popular sites, such as the Horse Guards Parade at Whitehall, Westminster; Admiralty Arch The Mall at St. James`s; and London Eye.
Speaking to Antara after a sightseeing tour, Tourism Minister Yahya said the taxi advertising initiative to promote the Wonderful Indonesia brand coincided with Indonesia`s participation in this year`s World Travel Market (WTM) London on Nov 5-7.
"This is a great and right momentum for promoting our Wonderful Indonesia tourism brand," he stated, adding that his ministry had often applied a creative and appropriate approach to introducing Indonesia`s tourism sector to the world.
Indonesia`s participation in the WTM London can help the country introduce and promote its tourism brand for millions of people to see, including the tourism industry players coming from different parts of the globe, he affirmed.
During the convening of the WTM London, the Wonderful Indonesia brand has been promoted through at least two light boxes, eight banners, 30 sticker floors, and 15 digital screens by highlighting famous tourist destinations, such as Borobudur and Lake Toba.
Choosing the city of London as a center for supporting the Wonderful Indonesia campaigns is not merely related to the country`s participation in the WTM London but it is also spurred by an increase in the number of British tourists visiting the archipelago.
Over the past years, the United Kingdom had been known by the Tourism Ministry as one of the top five contributors to Indonesia`s foreign tourist arrivals apart from France, Germany, the Netherlands, and Russia.
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 had set a target of attracting 2.19 million outbound tourists from European countries, including 441 thousand from the United Kingdom, 330 thousand from France, 306 thousand from Germany, 250 thousand from the Netherlands, and 100 thousand from Russia.
In reality, 361,197 British tourists had visited Indonesia in 2017, or an increase of around 9.8 percent as compared to 328,882 British visitors recorded in 2016.
As of August this year, the Indonesian Ministry of Tourism recorded that 264,023 British people had enjoying their holidays in the archipelago.
Hence, taking into account the United Kingdom`s contribution to Indonesia`s foreign tourist arrivals, promoting the Wonderful Indonesia brand in London is quite reasonable to help the government achieve its 2018 target of attracting 17 million foreign tourists.
Editing by Bustanuddin
Reporter: Rahmad Nasution
Editor: Fardah Assegaf
Copyright © ANTARA 2018
