Tourism to get IDR 2.4 Billion

Bali has allocated Rp 2.4 billion (US$259,200) for tourism promotion nationwide and abroad this year, the provincial tourism agency said on Tuesday.

The budget will be used for various activities promoting the island’s destinations to attract some 3 million foreign tourists this year, said the agency’s head of promotion division, Tjok Bagus Pemayun.

The agency and the island’s tourism stakeholders carry out five models of promotional activities, mainly by participating in a series of tourism-related exhibitions in other provinces and worldwide.

“We recently took part in Banjarbaru Travel Fair in South Kalimantan and Majapahit Travel Fair in Surabaya. Now we are gearing up for Gebyar Wisata Nusantara, which will take place in Jakarta from May 31 until June 3,” Pemayun said.

More exhibitions are coming up this year, he added, including Krakatau Festival in Lampung and Batam Expo in Batam, both being held in October.

The island’s tourism stakeholders also actively join other annual exhibitions abroad, including the biggest, ITB Berlin in March, as well as World Travel Market in London in November.

They will also promote Bali tourism attractions during Festival Indonesia in Melbourne, PATA Travel Mart and JATA Tourism Forum in September.

“We choose the events based on our analysis of the potential tourist market,” he said, adding that for next year more promotions were targeted at China and Russia.

The provincial tourism agency also promotes Bali through its website tourism.baliprov.go.id, through articles in several printed media and familiarization trips inviting journalists from many countries to visit Bali.

Last year, the island managed to attract 2.75 million foreign tourists and 5.67 million domestic tourists, increasing from 2.49 million foreign tourists and 4.64 million domestic tourists in 2010. According to the agency’s data, the highest contribution of foreign tourists last year was from Australia (28.69 percent), followed by China (8.59 percent), Japan (6.65 percent), Malaysia (6.16 percent) and Taiwan (4.69 percent).

The Bali administration will also establish the Provincial Tourism Promotion Agency this year as a follow up to the recent establishment of the National Tourism Promotion Agency by the Tourism and Creative Economy Ministry. The institution is responsible for promoting the island’s attractions.

Chairman of the Association of Indonesian Tour and Travel Agencies (ASITA) for Bali Aloysius Purwa said that the association members were now intensifying promotional activities in Australia, Japan and Europe, despite the
financial crisis in the latter.

“We are focusing on attracting higher-spending tourists to stay for a longer period. The most important thing is not the numbers of tourists,” he stressed.

He added that Bali is considered a creative destination that is always able to present many attractions, thus tourists are never bored and like to come back to the island.

Source: TheJakartaPost.com