Tourism Roadshow to Shanghai and Chengdu Promotes 'Ten New Balis'
Jakarta. Indonesia's Tourism Ministry organized a sales mission to Shanghai and Chengdu in China on May 22-25 to attract more Chinese tourists to Indonesia.
Jakarta. Indonesia's Tourism Ministry organized a sales mission to Shanghai and Chengdu in China on May 22-25 to attract more Chinese tourists to Indonesia.
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<strong>Tourism</strong> <strong>Roadshow</strong> <strong>to</strong> <strong>Shanghai</strong> <strong>and</strong> <strong>Chengdu</strong><br />
<strong>Promotes</strong> <strong>'Ten</strong> <strong>New</strong> <strong>Balis'</strong><br />
Jakarta. Indonesia's <strong>Tourism</strong> Ministry organized a sales mission <strong>to</strong> <strong>Shanghai</strong> <strong>and</strong> <strong>Chengdu</strong> in<br />
China on May 22-25 <strong>to</strong> attract more Chinese <strong>to</strong>urists <strong>to</strong> Indonesia.<br />
The ministry’s deputy for foreign marketing I Gde Pitana said they <strong>to</strong>ok along ten businessmen<br />
from Jakarta, Bali, Yogyakarta <strong>and</strong> Surabaya on the trip, which they dubbed the "Sales Mission<br />
Greater China 2017."<br />
Flag career Garuda Indonesia representatives in <strong>Shanghai</strong> helped out <strong>to</strong> arrange meetings with<br />
dozens of Chinese travel agents interested in <strong>to</strong>ur deals in Indonesia.<br />
Pitana said he hoped the sales mission will help <strong>to</strong> attract even more Chinese <strong>to</strong>urists <strong>to</strong><br />
Indonesia this year. Last year, almost 1.5 million Chinese <strong>to</strong>urists visited Indonesia.<br />
Ten <strong>New</strong> Balis<br />
The ministry's assistant deputy for Asia Pacific market development Vinsensius Jemadu said the<br />
ministry’s mini <strong>to</strong>ur <strong>to</strong> <strong>Shanghai</strong> <strong>and</strong> <strong>Chengdu</strong> was earmarked <strong>to</strong> promote ten new priority <strong>to</strong>urist<br />
destinations the ministry calls the "Ten <strong>New</strong> Balis."<br />
"Bali is still our number one <strong>to</strong>urist destination. But we have many other attractive destinations<br />
all over the country, including these Ten <strong>New</strong> Balis," Vinsensius said in a statement on Monday<br />
(29/05).
The Ten <strong>New</strong> Balis are Morotai, Tanjung Kelayang, Tanjung Lesung, Borobudur, Lake Toba,<br />
the Thous<strong>and</strong> Isl<strong>and</strong>s, Mt. Bromo, Mt. Semeru, M<strong>and</strong>alika <strong>and</strong> Waka<strong>to</strong>bi.<br />
Tourists from Greater China<br />
Attracting more <strong>to</strong>urists from "Greater China" — China, Taiwan <strong>and</strong> Hong Kong — is one of the<br />
<strong>Tourism</strong> Ministry's priority targets in 2017.<br />
The ministry officially targets 2,453,000 visi<strong>to</strong>rs from Greater China, with China alone making<br />
up 2,037,000 of that <strong>to</strong>tal. Until March, a <strong>to</strong>tal of 525,035 <strong>to</strong>urists from China have already<br />
visited Indonesia.<br />
Pitana said the ministry has partnered with Baidu — the Chinese Google — for its "Wonderful<br />
Indonesia" marketing campaign in China. Baidu currently has over 300 million users.<br />
"We've also partnered with the number one travel app in China, Qunar, <strong>to</strong> help Chinese travelers<br />
find information on flights, accommodation <strong>and</strong> holiday packages in Indonesia," Pitana said.<br />
<strong>Tourism</strong> Minister Arief Yahya said Indonesia will have <strong>to</strong> compete with the rest of the world <strong>to</strong><br />
win over the Chinese market — the largest in the world.<br />
"More than 120 million Chinese travelers fly out of their country each year. They are also going<br />
more <strong>and</strong> more digital, 70 percent of Chinese travelers look, book <strong>and</strong> pay for flights <strong>and</strong><br />
accommodations using digital [services]," Arief said.<br />
Arief pointed out that <strong>to</strong>urists from China tend <strong>to</strong> spend a lot during their travels overseas. The<br />
average spending of Chinese <strong>to</strong>urists is $1,057 per person during a visit.<br />
"Chinese <strong>to</strong>urists love beaches, <strong>and</strong> we have plenty of those. More <strong>and</strong> more of them also do a<br />
lot of shopping when they travel," Arief said.<br />
Arief said the ministry had asked Sriwijaya Air <strong>and</strong> Garuda Indonesia <strong>to</strong> add more direct flights<br />
from China <strong>to</strong> Indonesia.<br />
"Garuda should add more direct flights <strong>to</strong> <strong>and</strong> from China. Seven secondary cities in China still<br />
use chartered flights <strong>to</strong> travel <strong>to</strong> Indonesia. It would be better if scheduled flights are available,"<br />
he said.