Tourist Visit To Indonesia Are Lower Than To Turkey

ILLUSTRATION/Tourists at I Gusti Ngurah Rai Airport Bali/DOC Airport Public Relations

JAKARTA - The Minister of Tourism and Creative Economy (Menparekraf) Sandiaga Uno explained a number of facts regarding the assessment of Indonesian foreign tourists' visits which were far behind those of Turkey, namely related to supporting infrastructure and entry access.

This was conveyed by Sandiaga Uno in a working meeting with Commission X of the DPR, Wednesday, January 25.

In the meeting, DPR member Andreas Hugo Pareira said that foreign tourists visiting Turkey until December 2022 had reached 50 million foreign tourists. According to him, this achievement is still far from Indonesia, which until November 2022 had only reached 4.58 million foreign tourists.

"Turkey, in December they had almost 50 million tourists. This rate is far compared to us. This is extraordinary. But okay, we have to keep trying to improve how to increase tourist visits to Indonesia," said the member of the PDI Perjuangan faction, as reported by ANTARA.

Responding to this question, Sandiaga Uno said that Turkey could not reach the number of foreign tourist visits in a short time.

Sandiaga also assessed that Turkey had made extraordinary efforts to support the tourism sector, one of which was by building basic infrastructure in the form of an airport.

"I underline that Turkey can reach 50 million, of course not in a short time, but they are investing in extraordinary ways starting from basic infrastructure such as airports," he said.

On the other hand, Turkey is a country that can be accessed easily by land. Moreover, its position is located between the continents of Asia and Europe.

"Turkey can also be reached by road, while only Timor Leste and Malaysia can reach us by road and that is limited," he said.

Sandiaga Uno explained that the government continues to encourage quality tourism.

The target number of foreign tourist visits that have been achieved by the government is not just calculated but calculated using various databases.

"Regarding the calculation of foreign tourists, BPS uses several data points, namely immigration data by nationality and the main entry points for regular foreign tourists in Ngurah Rai, Soekarno-Hatta, and the Riau Islands, the number is 72.3 percent. Meanwhile, foreign tourists are counted using the mobile method positioning data (MPD) covers 27.7 percent," he said.

Sandiaga Uno said, from these calculations, it is known that spending or expenditure of regular foreign tourists, namely tourists in border areas, has in fact continued to increase, especially after the pandemic.

BPS noted that the average spending for regular foreign tourists is US$150 per visit per person, but it has jumped after the pandemic.

"Therefore, tourism foreign exchange has jumped sharply to US$2,165 per visit per pax. Maybe we can do the quality tourism that we want to achieve if the length of stay of tourists can be increased and quality spending," said Sandiaga Uno.

In 2023, the Ministry of Tourism and Creative Economy targets foreign tourist visits to reach 3.4 million-7.4 million people; domestic tourist mobility reaches 1.2 billion to 1.4 billion movements; RI's ranking in the Travel and Tourism Development Index at 29-34; as well as a tourism workforce reaching 21.93 million people and a target creative workforce of 22.59 million people.

Meanwhile, the foreign exchange value of the tourism sector is targeted to reach US$2.07-5.95 billion; tourism's GDP contribution reached 4.1 percent; the export value of creative economy products (ekraf) reached 26.46 billion US dollars; and the added value of creative economy reached IDR 1,279 trillion.