Indonesia has unveiled an ambitious plan to develop 10 major tourism destinations as part of its effort to attract tourists and investment from China.
The 10 priority destinations, also called 10 New Bali, will require total investment of about $20 billion, of which $10 billion is expected to come from private companies, the Ministry of Tourism of Indonesia announced at an event in Shanghai on Friday.
Foreign investors and businesses from the tourism and real estate sectors are welcome to invest in the 10 destinations, Minister of Tourism of Indonesia Arief Yahya said in Shanghai.
One of main purposes of the minister's current visit to China is to promote tourism investment opportunities in Indonesia, Vinsensius Jemadu, director for Asia Pacific Tourism Promotions of the Indonesian Ministry of Tourism, told the Global Times on Friday.
"We know there are a lot of big-name investors here," he said, noting that compared with other countries and regions, China is getting the most attention in the promotion campaign.
Jemadu also stressed that special economic zones will be set up for some of the priority destinations, where investors will enjoy non-fiscal incentives from the local government, such as land tax reduction, relaxed approval for land acquisition, a shortened negative investment list and other favorable policies with regard to employment and immigration.
"In particular, Indonesia has a lot of restrictions on foreign investment in the real estate sector, but many of the restrictions don't apply to tourism investment," James Hartono, president of the Indonesia Chamber of Commerce in China, said at the event on Friday.
Foreign tourist arrivals and foreign exchange earnings are expected to be boosted by investment in the 10 key areas, such as Toba Lake in North Sumatra and Old Town in Jakarta.
So far, Bali remains the top choice among foreign travelers.
Tourism ranks fourth after oil and gas, coal and palm oil in terms of its contribution to Indonesia's GDP. Nevertheless, within five years, tourism will be the No.1 contributor to GDP, according to Jemadu.
With tourism one of the key sectors in the government plan, Indonesia has set a target of 20 million foreign tourist arrivals and $22 billion in foreign exchange earnings by 2019, according to the Ministry of Tourism of Indonesia.
The target for 2016 is 12 million visits by foreign travelers, with foreign exchange earnings of $12 billion. So far, Indonesia has granted visa-free entry to citizens of 169 countries and regions.
China has become one of the fastest-growing tourist sources for Indonesia, and the Southeast Asian country has designated China as a priority tourism market and set ambitious goals for it.
In the first half of this year, the number of Chinese visitors to Indonesia rose 24.44 percent year-on-year to 685,074, or No.2 after -Singapore, said the tourism ministry of Indonesia. In 2014, it ranked fourth after Singapore, Malaysia and Australia.
The Indonesian government aims to see 2.1 million Chinese tourist visits in 2016 and 10 million visits from the Chinese mainland, Hong Kong, Taiwan and Macao in 2019.
"Chinese tourists made a record 120 million trips overseas in 2015, and we only got 1 percent of the total," Jemadu said.
More work needs to be done, and the tourism ministry has been conducting an aggressive campaign to attract Chinese tourists, accompanied by a lot of events in 50 Chinese cities this year.
