Indonesia Confident Terrorist Attacks Do Not Affect Tourist Arrivals
- Details
- Published on Wednesday, 24 February 2016 16:50
- Hits: 5503
KUALA LUMPUR, Feb 23 (Bernama) — The Indonesian Tourism Ministry is confident terrorist attacks and the current uncertain economic situation will not affect tourist arrivals there.
Its Deputy Director of Promotions for South East Asia, Firnandi Gufron said the ministry was confident of meeting its target of 12 million tourist arrivals to the country by the end of the year.
“We are confident tourist arrivals to Indonesia will not be affected, as it can happen anywhere, the measures taken by the security forces have been very effective and Indonesia is peaceful,” he said in a media conference held jointly with the Malaysian Association of Tour and Travel Agents (MATTA) here Monday.
Also present was MATTA president Hamzah Rahmat.
In mid-January this year at least six people, including three police personnel, were killed while several others were injured in a series of
explosions near the Sarinah Mall in Jalan MH Thamrin in Jakarta.
According to Firnandi, Malaysia has been the second biggest market for Indonesia for a long time.
“In 2015, there were 1,200,202 Malaysian tourists, a drop of 5.95 per cent from 2014. This year, we expect two million tourists from Malaysia.
“To achieve this target, we have opened 36 exhibition booths at the MATTA Fair which will focus on 10 tourist destinations in Indonesia,” he said.
These destinations include Lake Toba, Bromo, Mandalika, Tanjung Lesung, Motorai, Jakarta, Yogyakarta, Labuan Bajo, Wakatobi and Pulau Belitung.
The MATTA fair, which is scheduled to be held at the Putra World Trade Centre from March 11 to 13, is targeting more than 90,000 visitors to its 1,175 exhibition booths.
– BERNAMA