The Ministry of Tourism and Creative Economy/Tourism and Creative Economy Agency (MoTCE) of the Republic of Indonesia in collaboration with Badung Regency Government of Bali and Indonesia tourism industry holds a Tourism Sales Mission in the South Asia region on 9-18 September 2024. The tourism roadshow held in 4 cities in India, Bangalore, Chennai, New Delhi and Jaipur, and completed in the capital city of Nepal, Kathmandu.
The event is an active collaboration between the MoTCE with Badung Regency Government of Bali and Indonesia tourism industry to maintain Indonesia’s existence as a top of mind destination for the South Asia travel market, particularly India and Nepal. The selected cities were chosen through careful consideration, New Delhi and Bangalore were chosen because of the availability of direct flights to Bali. Meanwhile, Chennai, Jaipur and Kathmandu (Nepal) were chosen because they have shown a positive trend of outbound tourists visiting Indonesia.
As of July 2024, there were 417,703 Indian outbound tourists visiting Indonesia, contributing 62.64% from the 671,136 Indian outbound targets of the MoTCE in 2024. Indian outbound are in fifth place of international tourists visiting Indonesia and second place of international tourists visiting Bali as the most popular Indonesia tourist destination.
Aside from targeting the Indian outbound market, the sales mission will also be held in Kathmandu, Nepal, considering the significant positive growth of Nepal outbound tourists visiting Indonesia. In 2023, tourist visits from Nepal had increased by 186% compared to the previous year. As of June 2024, visits by Nepali tourists had reached 3,993, an increase of 65.5% from the same period in 2023. Nepal as a geographically landlocked country, is one of the potential outbound tourist markets for Indonesia as the world’s largest archipelago, to offer its beautiful tropical beaches and marine tourism destination.
“We need to continue to encourage the achievements of Indian and Nepali tourists with various promotional activities, such as sales missions and roadshows in several potential cities, so that international tourist visits from South Asia will continue to increase,” said Minister of Tourism and Creative Economy, Sandiaga Uno. The MoTCE will also hold meetings with the National Tourism Organization of Nepal (Nepal Tourism Board) and Nepal Association of Tour & Travel Agents (NATTA) to strengthen tourism cooperation in increasing tourist visits from both countries.
The Wonderful Indonesia tourism sales mission in India and Nepal are a collaborative marketing scheme by the MoTCE, Badung Regency Government of Bali and Indonesian tourism industry. A total of thirty-five Indonesian respective tourism companies were curated as participants, consisting of hotel/hospitality, travel agents/tour operators, attractions, restaurants, and MICE services (Meeting, Incentive, Convention, and Exhibition). During the event, the Ministry of Tourism and Creative Economy is focusing on three main market segments consisting of luxury tourism, weddings/honeymoon and MICE. Complementing those segments, wellness tourism will be one of the highlighted tourism products to offer. Last April, Bali received a visit from one of the famous yoga and spiritual teachers and writers from India, Sadhguru. Sadhguru’s visit had strengthened Bali’s positioning as a wellness and spiritual tourism destination. “The recent visit of Sadhguru, who has many followers from India and throughout the world, has the potential to attract many foreign tourists who are looking for wellness and spiritual healing destinations. For this reason, we will continue to introduce Bali, which is famous for its natural beauty, as a world-class wellness destination”, said Minister Sandiaga, the Minister also mentioned that according to Sadhguru, Bali is chosen as his spiritual journey because it brings calm and enthusiasm for physical and spiritual recovery.
The Deputy Minister for Marketing Ni Made Ayu Marthini said that “Bali and beyond” are the main Indonesia destinations that will be promoted in the India and Nepal sales mission. “The aim of this sales mission is to promote Bali and other Indonesian destinations. Bali is currently a magnet for South Asian tourists, particularly from India and Nepal, and we encourage Bali as a starting point for international tourists as well as the hub for international tourists to continue their journey and explore further destinations, such as Yogyakarta, Lombok, Labuan Bajo and Jakarta. Therefore, participants in the sales mission are also from other destinations beyond Bali”, said Deputy Made.
During addressing the guests at the New Delhi Roadshow on 16th September, Her Excellency, Madam Ina Krishnamurthi, Ambassador of the Republic of Indonesia in New Delhi underlined the importance of the current direct flight as one key factor to increase tourism between Indonesia and India. On the other hand, the existing direct flight also need support from tourism to create and maintain two ways traffic for the sustainability of the flight.
Ambassador Ina also highlighted the importance for the tourism industry of Indonesia to develop non-traditional tourism attraction like golf, wellness, and the RiCH tourism (Religious, Cultural, and Heritage) considering the ties between India and Indonesia.
Closing her remarks, Ambassador Ina reminds the forum on the importance of sustainable tourism which sometimes resulted in policies which seems to be not in line with tourism promotion but is necessary for sustainable tourism. This message is related to the tourist levi applied by governor of Bali recently.
In between business to business (B2B) sessions, the sales mission program also features an Indonesia Tourism Update to brief the tourism industry on the latest information of Indonesia tourism performances, travel policies, connectivity updates and destination highlights. “We hope that the Indonesia Tourism Update would encourage the Indian and Nepali tourism industry to promote the uniqueness of Indonesian destinations with various travel packages. Hopefully they can also educate tourists to become responsible tourists to improve quality tourism in Indonesia”, continued Deputy Made.
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