Wednesday, 6 June 2012

TOURISM BECOMES A LEADING SECTOR THAT CONTRIBUTES TO GDP


The government is optimistic that tourism is potential to become leading sector that contributes to Indonesia’s GDP. Currently, tourism is an alternative sector in terms of contribution to GDP. AS an illustration, the economic contribution to GDP. AS an illustration, the economic consequence of tourism of 2010 on production of goods and services nationally reaches 4.73%, contribution to GDP reaches 4.06%, and contribution to manpower nationally reaches 6.87%. In 2010, tourism sector created work opportunities for 7.43 million people.

But, tourism can become a leading sector if it shows capability in the National Tourism Satellite Account (Nesparnas). The key is that the government could make calculation of Nesparnas accurately. Nesparnas is an indicator to look at the role of tourism in national economy in a macro way. Therefore, recording of tourism account should not only rely on the regional or provincial government, but also at the regental level, even by the tourist destination management so that recording of the effect of tourism will be more coordinated.

Wardiyatmo, Secretary General of the Ministry of Tourism and Creative Economy, said that Nesparnas becomes am indicator which is currently being developed in some provincial and regental areas (Nespaeda). According to him, this method is intended to identify economic consequences of tourism activities, namely how much national tourism production is, tourism added value to GDP, salary of employees in tourism sector, and indirect taxes from tourism sector.

He was optimistic that tourism sector will still have a bright prospect in the future. This sector will still have a bright prospect in the future. This can be seen from the number of foreign and domestic tourist visits which increases continuously every year. Quoting data of the National Bureau of Statistics (BPS), number of foreign tourism visiting Indonesia in March 2012 reaches 658.602 persons, or increases 10.12% if compared to March 2011 at 598,068 persons.

Cumulatively (January-March 2012), number of foreign tourists arriving in Indonesia reaches 1.9 million persons, or increases 11.01% if compared to the same period in 2011 at 1.71 million persons. Based on number of foreign tourists arriving through 19 main gateways in March 2011 if compared to February 2011 (month on month), there is an increase of 12.72% from 545,651 persons to 615,058 persons. Reportedly, increase in the number of foreign tourists occurs in almost all main gateways.

In March 2012, Ngurah Rai airport recorded the highest number of foreign tourist arrival, namely 22,950 persons, followed by Sokarno-Hatta airport at 165,927 persons, Batam at 103,626 persons, and Tanjung Uban 28,471 persons. Meanwhile, three main gateways experience decline in the number of foreign tourist arrival, they are Adi Sumarno airport by 6.71%, Tanjung Priok port 5.81%, and Adi Sucipto airport 0.23%.
According to him, growth in the number of tourist arrival in Indonesia shows that Indonesia’s condition is safe and comfortable that it attracted foreign citizens to visit tourist destinations or do business in Indonesia. This is a positive sign that Indonesia could become a major holiday destination of foreign tourists, Wardiyatmo said.

He reminded of the importance of the role of tourism in solving economic problems such as inflation, unemployment, and balance sheet and travel account. He took an example of the contribution of tourism sector of DKI Jakarta to national GDP which reaches Rp 44.24 trillions by creating work opportunities for 390,512 people, while Bali’s tourism sector contributes Rp 19.54 trillions by opening work opportunities for 815,00 people. The above data shows that tourism activities in DKI Jakarta are more capital-intensive that in Bali. Capital-intensive tourism activities are related to types of tourism, for example, business and conventional tourism. 

Business News - May 16, 2012

 
 

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