BEIJING, Sept 19 – Indonesian Tourism Minister Mari Elka Pangestu said Indonesia needs a good strategy to attract more Chinese tourists, Indonesian news agency ANTARA reported.
“Indonesia must move quickly to exploit the potential offered by Chinese tourists,” she said after meeting with China National Tourism Administration (CNTA) chairman Shao Qiwei in Beijing on Tuesday.
At the meeting, the two officials agreed to renew a memorandum of understanding (MoU) on tourism signed by the two countries in 2000 in light of rapid development in the tourism market.
According to the United Nations World Tourism Organisation (UNWTO), China has been ranked as a major tourist market supplier with Chinese tourists spending up to US$102 million in 2012 or 40 percent higher than the US$73 million in the previous year.
The number of Chinese who travelled abroad has also grown from 10 million in 2000 to 83 million last year.
However, the number of Chinese tourists visiting Indonesia stood only at 726,088 in 2012 compared to 1.56 million and 2.7 million arrivals to Malaysia and Thailand respectively.
Pangestu said in view of this, “We must have strategies and work quickly to increase the number of Chinese tourists coming to Indonesia though several means, including renewing the MoU.”
The renewal of the MoU will be followed up with other action plans, including a joint promotion and information exchange as well as improving travel facilities and tourism investment in both countries.
Shao said China had also issued a new law related to tourism industry on April 25 this year.
The regulation, which becomes effective on Oct 1, will be used as a reference for China’s tourism cooperation with other countries including Indonesia.
The law is aimed at regulating the working system and tourism products offered by tourism operators to make them more transparent, improve their quality, and protect legal rights and interests of tourists and tourism operators.
It will also regulate the tourism market, protect and ensure a rational use of tourism resources, as well as promote sustainable development and healthy tourism.
– BERNAMA
