Jakarta (ANTARA) – The government needs to increase the number of flights, bolster airport capacity, and ease visa-on-arrival (VoA) requirements to boost international tourist arrivals, according to Tourism and Creative Economy Minister Sandiaga Uno.
“We hope these measures will attract more tourists to visit Indonesia,” he said after meeting with President Joko Widodo (Jokowi) at the Presidential Palace in Jakarta on Tuesday.
During the meeting, he presented a report to Jokowi on the development of the tourism industry in the first six months of 2023, with a particular focus on the recovery indicator, which surpassed the growth target of 10–15 percent.
He mentioned that the recovery of the tourism sector in the first half of 2023 was achieved through cooperation between ministries and institutions. The recovery efforts are ongoing to achieve the target of 8.5 million foreign tourists this year.
The Ministry of Tourism and Creative Economy previously increased the target of international tourist arrivals for this year from 7.4 million to 8.5 million.
The target was raised because of the tourism recovery in Asian-Pacific countries, especially in China and Australia, in the first quarter of 2023.
These two countries are the primary markets for the Indonesian tourism sector.
Uno said that the government also aims to meet the job creation targets in the tourism sector: 2.6 million jobs in 2023 and 4.4 million jobs in 2024.
“The creative economy is also growing well, and the target of export value of US$27 billion in the first semester surpassed all expectations,” he explained.
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