President Joko Widodo (Jokowi) has called for a serious effort to attract at least 10 million Chinese tourists to visit Indonesia per year.
“Some 150 million Chinese citizens travel abroad every year. Most of them travel to the US and Europe. I want some 10 million Chinese tourists to visit Indonesia,” he said at a function to familiarize the public with the second phase of tax amnesty program here on Friday night.
The president said he has signed an agreement with the Chinese government related to Chinese tourists visit to Indonesia.
“The agreement has been in place. We only prepare flights from China to Indonesia. If the flights are already there, the target of attracting 20 million tourists can be achieved in 2019,” he said.
The government is developing 10 key tourist destinations expected to attract more tourists, he said.
“The target of tourist arrivals two years ago was 9 million. We want to increase the target to 20 million in 2019 by all available means including improving our positioning, diversifying products, and building brands,” he said.
To achieve the target, the government continued to carry out tourism promotion in major cities abroad, he said.
