Indonesia and World Tourism News

The figure is far lower than that of Kuala Lumpur and Singapore, which are around US$ 100 million or Rp 1 trillion. “Meanwhile Jakarta’s revenue from this sector is Rp 1,5 trillion,” he said following a press conference promoting an essay competition on the topic of Jakarta tourism at the Markplus office in Jakarta yesterday.

According to Arie, Jakarta should be able to allocate Rp 500 billion or 30 percent of those revenues on tourism promotion. In fact, they are only spending 2.5 percent. “This is a minute amount,” he said. This low budget prevents the integration of sectors supporting tourism, despite Jakarta’s huge potential.

Indonesia Marketing Association chairman, Y.W Junardy shares the same view. He said that the weakness in Jakarta’s tourism is the fact that the city cannot manage its potentials effectively. He cited China as an example that is successful in managing the tourism sector. “There, even stones can become a tourist object, by properly enhancing them with stories and legends,” he said.

Arie explained that this year Jakarta has targeted 1.3 million foreign tourists, pointing out that the group that contributes the most to Jakarta’s tourism are domestic tourists. Next year the number of domestic tourist is targeted to be 16 million, while 1.6 million foreigners are expected to visit the city.