Organisers of the Bali and Beyond Travel Fair are gearing up for the sixth edition which takes place on the Island of the Gods next month.
BBTF returns on 25 – 29 June at the usual venue the Bali Nusa Dua Convention Center.
Organised by the Bali Chapter of the Indonesian Association of Travel Agents (ASITA) more than 200 suppliers are expected, hoping to do business with about 300 international buyers.
About 250 buyers from 52 countries have already registered, mostly from Europe.
This year’s theme is ‘Journey to Sustainable Tourism’ which reflects the push to safeguard the environment and the country’s unique cultural assets, both in Bali and across the country, from Sumatra to West Papua.
The sixth BBTF 2019 is supported by the Ministry of Tourism and serves as the main travel trade event to promote Indonesia’s outlying regions. It has become the main showcase for the tourism ministry’s multi-year ’10 new Balis’ campaign.
The campaign has been a prominent feature at BBTF for the past few years and has been quite successful in helping to disperse tourism across the archipelago.
Inbound tourism arrivals have been steadily arriving but the second half of last year dealt a blow to its short term prospects of meeting the ministry’s target of 20 million arrivals by the end of 2019.
The impact from a series of devastating earthquakes and tsunamis is still being felt, especially in neighbouring Lombok which had been the main benefactor of the campaign to promote travel to other destinations via Bali.
