"We are eyeing to rope in about 9.5 million to 14.3 million foreign tourists to visit next year," he remarked after attending the National Coordination Meeting on Tourism and Creative Economy 2023 in Bandung, West Java, on Tuesday.
Uno noted that the number of foreign tourist visits recorded this year had hit 9.49 million, thereby exceeding the initial target set of 8.5 million visits.
The minister then spoke of having explored cooperation opportunities with several airlines to increase the number of international flight routes to the Kertajati West Java International Airport, with the objective of boosting the number of foreign tourist visits, particularly to West Java Province.
In addition to striving to achieve the target of foreign tourist visits, the Ministry of Tourism and Creative Economy has set the target related to the expected number of domestic tourist visits next year, he remarked.
"We will continue to pump up the mobility of domestic tourists. Our target for next year is to record 1.25 billion travels and 1.5 billion movements from domestic tourists," he pointed out.
Related news: Supporting the development of green tourism
He further reiterated that the tourism and creative economy sectors had significantly contributed to Indonesia's economic growth throughout this year.
"The tourism and creative economy sectors' contribution (to the gross domestic product/GDP) almost reaches four percent. We need to ensure that the sectors that are instrumental for creating job opportunities will provide even more significant impacts on Indonesia's economy," he stated.
Such sectors can help the government realize the vision of Golden Indonesia 2045, he remarked.
Uno then noted that Indonesia's creative economy sector had contributed as much as Rp1,300 trillion (US$83.2 billion) to the country's GDP, thereby placing the sector as the world's third-best in terms of contribution to GDP, after that of the United States and South Korea.
"The creative economy sector has empowered approximately 24 million people in Indonesia," he emphasized.
Related news: Minister sets tourism foreign exchange target of US$10 bln
Related news: Govt optimistic of achieving tourist mobility target of 1.4 billion
Translator: Rubby Jovan, Tegar Nurfitra
Editor: Yuni Arisandy Sinaga
Copyright © ANTARA 2023
