Menparekraf Sandiaga: The Number Of Tourist Visits To Indonesia Is Far Behind The ASEAN State

Minister of Tourism and Creative Economy Sandiaga Salahuddin Uno. (Photo: Doc. ANTARA)

JAKARTA - Minister of Tourism and Creative Economy (Menparekraf) Sandiaga Salahuddin Uno said the number of foreign tourist visits (tourists) to Indonesia was still far behind countries in the Southeast Asia (ASEAN) region.

"If we look at Indonesia among the Asean tourism competition, we still have to fight because of the number of foreign tourists we lag behind Malaysia, Thailand, Vietnam, Singapore," said Menparekraf Sandiaga at The Weekly Brief with Sandi Uno in Jakarta, quoted Tuesday, February 27.

"Indonesia's main competitors are several Asean countries, which are based on regional positions and characteristics of attraction," he continued.

Sandiaga said that the capacity of the flight capacity (capacity seat) to Indonesia is also low when compared to existing competitors, only slightly superior to Vietnam.

Based on the sources of various countries' statistical bodies, the seat capacity for flights to Indonesia in 2024 only reached 22.6 points.

Meanwhile, Malaysia has reached the position of 31.2, followed by Thailand with the achievements of 41.3 and Singapore which reached 41.4.

"We have to improve this with a strategy that is not mediocre, but extraordinary so that foreign tourists can fill the available seat capacity and we also have to encourage how to fly to Indonesia more and also more friendly visa policies to foreign tourists," he said.

He did not deny that the achievement of foreign tourists had indeed exceeded the targeted figure.

However, Sandiaga assessed that this figure was still far behind a number of countries in Asean.

"If you look at our achievements, we are already above the target, but when compared to other countries we are still far behind because we also have to increase the airport capacity, interconnectivity with sea and air routes that we must continue to prioritize," he concluded.