TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - Tourism Minister Arief Yahya said tourism contributed 4.23 percent to gross domestic product (GDP). The number exceeds the target of four percent. As for labor absorption, it reached 12.16 million from target of 11.3 million.
“Overall, policies in tourism development in 2015 were on track and we could achieve our targets,” said Arief Yahya on Wednesday, December 30.
Arief estimated that Indonesia’s tourism growth this year could reach 5.81 percent, which is higher than several other ASEAN countries, such as Malaysia which experienced negative growth of 9.43 percent from January to June 2015.
Singapore and Vietnam also suffered negative growth from January to October 2015 with 0.09 percent and 1.27 percent respectively. Thailand, on the other hand, experienced growth of 22.34 percent from January to November 2015.
“From our major tourist destinations compared with those in neighboring countries, we can see that Indonesia has a large tourism potential, but it hasn't been fully harnessed,” said Arief.
For comparison, in 2015, 9.5 million tourists has visited Phuket - Thailand; 5.5 million tourists has visited Penang; and 1.7 million tourists has visited Angkor Wat in Cambodia, while four million foreign tourist has visited Bali. Tourism sites such as Borobudur, Prambanan and Ratu Boko temples were visited by 471,000 foreign tourists and five million local tourists.
LARISSA HUDA
