TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - The Ministry of Tourism and Creative Economy noted that the number of foreign tourist arrivals to Indonesia until last October had exceeded the target. There have been 3.92 million visits recorded from the target of 3.6 million visits.

"This means that we have exceeded the target upper limit of 3.6 million. if we continue to increase this momentum, we will be able to reach more than 5 million foreign tourist visits," said Minister of Tourism and Creative Economy Sandiaga Uno in a statement, Wednesday, December 7, 2022.

According to Sandiaga, the achievement of this target is proof of the increasing confidence of foreign visitors in Indonesian tourism. His group aimed for the foreign tourist visit this year to be around 1.8 - 3.6 million.

Of all the tourists arriving, Malaysia stood in the first place as the country with the most tourist visits to Indonesia, previously held by Australia.

"Here, there is a change in the number of visits, Australia was previously number one, but now Malaysia took over. Australia is placed at number two with Singapore at third place, Timor Leste is among the top five, and India on fifth," said Sandiaga.

Sandiaga is also optimistic that the number of foreign tourist arrivals targets in 2023 of 3.6 - 7.2 million visits can be achieved if this momentum is maximized properly. "We are sure that even if there is a threat of a recession, we will be able to face it," he said.

Various efforts have been made by the government to increase foreign tourist arrivals. In addition to the ease of processing immigration documents, the government is focusing on increasing quality tourism to increase the length of stay, income and experience of tourists while visiting Indonesia. This step will be in line with the improvement of amenities, attractions and the implementation of CHSE (Cleanliness, Health, Safety, Environment Sustainability) in tourist destinations.

"We adopt a strategy in working on quality tourism, so we don't only focus on the number of visits but also on quality," said Sandiaga.

The government also continues to intensify promotions and attract foreign tourists from various countries in the world to increase economic benefits for the people of Indonesia through the tourism sector. Some of the countries that were targeted for the promotion program were England, France, Russia, the Netherlands, Germany, the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, Singapore, Malaysia, China, Japan, South Korea, India and Australia.

TEMPO.CO | IMAJI LASAHIDO (INTERNSHIP)

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