TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - The Association of Indonesian Tour and Travel Agencies (ASITA) targets a 1.7 million increase of foreign tourist following the establishments of Asian Para Games and IMF-World Bank Annual Meeting. In 2018 alone, the target is 17 million foreign tourists visiting Indonesia.

"Until August, (the foreign tourist visit) reached 10.9 million," ASITA chairman Asnawi Bahar told Tempo Saturday, October 6. Therefore, an additional of 2 million tourists per month is required to complete the achievement target.

Asnawi said that this year's target is higher than last year's which was only 15 million. From the target, a satisfying result was made which could be seen from the 14.2 foreign tourists, around 94.6 percent, visited the country.

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The 2018 Asian Para Games will be held in Jakarta on October 6 to 13 and the IMF-World Bank Annual Meeting to be held in Bali from October 9 to 14. The two events conclude the Asian Games 2018 event from August 18 to September 2.

However, Asnawi continued, the association did not put a high hope from the moments in achieving the target. He, instead, said the three events can at least help promote the country in order to reap foreign tourist potential afterward.

He reasoned that the previous Asian Games event did add 200 foreign tourists but the number was mostly athletes who came to compete. "So, we didn't really achieve from the momentum," he concluded.

Despite that, Asnawi said his office keeps supporting the three events as one of the attempts to boost Indonesia's tourism promotion, such as by providing Jakarta-Palembang tour package during the Asian Games 2018.

Fajar Pebrianto