Indonesia, focus, on, five, major, tourist, markets

“Bali has always been the country’s driving force for tourism. We call on all parties in the island’s tourist industry to participate in sales promotion,” he continued.
Malaysia and Singapore have been growing into the largest markets for Indonesia because of their close geographical and cultural distance.
“Visitors from the two neighboring countries come to Indonesia on business and for pleasure,” he said.

Australia, Bali’s leading market, also had geographical benefit. “Bali is viewed as their second home,” Putra added. The economic condition in Australia has been steady and strong, allowing its residents to vacation in Bali and other destinations in Indonesia.


In the case of the Japanese market, it was now starting to rebound from the tsunami and economic downturn. “Japan was Bali’s top market. The number of tourists from the country to Bali fell significantly because of the natural disaster and economic condition, but now it is on an upward trend again,” he added.

Meanwhile, China is an economic giant with a huge population and high economic power. The growth of the middle and upper class in the country has impacted on the global tourism map.
The World Tourism Organization revealed that around 31 million Chinese people traveled around the world during holiday seasons.

Bali Tourism Agency said the number of Chinese visitors to the island in 2012 had reached 310,904 persons, stunning growth of 31.26 percent from 2011’s figures of 236,868 tourists.
Chinese tourists contribute 10.75 percent to total foreign tourist arrivals in Bali. “We have just organized a promotion in Beijing and Shanghai. We will hold further promotional activities in two other cities in China,” he said.

Around 91 percent of Chinese travelers vacation in the Asia-Pacific region and mostly originate from three major cities in China—Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou.

The Tourism and Creative Economy Ministry is urging Bali and other tourist destinations in Indonesia to focus on five major markets—Singapore, Malaysia, Australia, China and Japan, in 2013.

I Gusti Ngurah Putra, secretary of the ministry’s directorate general for tourism marketing, told The Jakarta Post that the ministry was currently actively promoting new types of tourist destination, such as ecotourism and village tourism.

Indonesia has 16 traditional and emerging tourist markets, including Europe, the US, Russia and India, but this year, Putra said, the ministry was willing to focus on the five big markets.

“These five markets have greatly contributed to the country’s tourism revenue,” Putra explained.
Participation in various promotional activities, tourism festivals and sales missions would be enhanced in these five significant target markets, he said.

Sources : http://bali-news-views.blogspot.com/ : Indonesia, focus, on, five, major, tourist, markets