Tuesday, 25 August 2015

INDONESIA’S RATING FOR COMPETITIVENESS IN TOURISM PROMOTED



The Ministry of Tourism reported that competitiveness rating of Indonesia’s tourism was up by 20 degrees from the level of 70 in 2013 to level 50 in 2015. The rating agency Travel & Tourism Competitiveness Index (TTCI) was World Economic Forum (WEF) which was credible and had 141 member countries. Only China, the only country whose level of increase was higher than Indonesia, i.e. from 45 to 17 this year. WEF released that index to give reliable data which was trusted by nearly all people of the world. It served as “white book” for tourist reference for decicing the chosen destination. The better the rating, the better the service and facilities.

The Ministry of Trade could increase Indonesia’s rating to 30 at global level by 2019. The Minister of Tourism Arif Yahya stated in Jakarta on Tuesday (9/6) that the optimism to elevate to higher level was based on betterment in some indicators. Among others the price factor and priority of policy in tourism. The indicators which had been Indonesia’s minus point was improving such as tourism infrastructure, ICT infra structure, health and environmental hygiene.

The betterment was elevated by a number of indices like tariff competitiveness from 9 to 3. The same was index of infra structure like transportation which rose from 54 to 39. Index of cultural resources and business travel rose from 38 to 25. In spite of betters ranking Indonesia was still under Singapore, Malaysia and Thailand who were at 11,25 and 35 in the world respectively.

To meet the target of being on top thirty in the world, Arif said, weaknesses of tourism must be improved, such as connectivity. Other atractins must be enhanced like cultural heritage. To conduct festive events would be worth whole, such as Toba Lake festival, Batur Lake Festival, Sriwijaya Festival etc to be staged soon.

Data of BPS and the Ministry of Tourism had it that the number of foreign tourists visiting Indonesia in April 2015 was posted at 749,882 pax, a growth of 3.24% against April the previous year at 726,332 pax. Meanwhile accumulatively in January-April 2015 the Number of incoming tourists was 3,049.270 pax, a growth of 3,44% against same period the previous year at 2,947,684 pax,

Growth of incoming foreign tourists in April or January-April 2015 was still slowing down because it was still below target of 7%-8% per month but its performance was heartening, Growth in April 2015 was posted as highest in the past 20 years, similarly accumulative growth in January – April 2015 was still above the trend of 3 years before.

Meanwhile Chairman of GIPPI Didin Junaidi stated the Government still had lots of homework to do in reach the biggest task being access and infra structure as Indonesia had plenty of attractions but were hard to sell due to difficult access to the destination spots.

He showed as an example the Anambas island and Riau or destinations in East Indonesia which were rich in wondrous culture and panorama. Flight to those places were still few, the Government had to provide good transportation and infra structure to those areas if tourism were to be promoted. (SS)

Business News - June 12, 2015

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