Jakarta targets Middle East tourists
THE TOURISM Ministry hopes to attract up to 400,000 Muslim tourists from the Middle East next year.
“We hope to receive 300,000 to 400,000 tourists from the Middle East,” said the Tourism Ministry’s halal tourism development acceleration team head Riyanto Sofyan to kompas.com.
Riyanto said most of the Middle Eastern travelers have high spending habits and tend to bring along their families for a shopping spree.
Several local destinations will be highlighted for Middle Eastern visitors, such as Lombok, Jakarta and West Sumatra. Riyanto added that the Tourism Ministry will still promote halal tourism in Middle Eastern countries and Indonesia will participate in the events that offer Business to Business (B2B) activities as well as Business to Consumer (B2C).
Riyanto explained that Indonesia is in third place for Middle Eastern Muslim tourists, based on Muslim tourists’ worldwide priority, while Asia is in second place and Europe is in first place.
In Asia, the targets are tourists from Azerbaijan, China, Malaysia and Singapore. Meanwhile, the ministry also aims to attract tourists from Russia, Germany, France and England.
The Tourism Ministry has set a target of 15 million tourists in 2017
