Indonesia’s president has set an ambitious target of attracting 10 million Chinese visitors a year.
President Joko Widodo says the China market is key for the country to achieve its target of 20 million arrivals a year by 2019.
"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.
He said the two nations had signed an agreement relating to better air connectivity.
"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," Joko said.
At the heart of Indonesia’s tourism promotion strategy is 10 new destinations being heavily pushed to diversify tourism.
The vast majority of tourism is centred on Bali, Jakarta and the Riau Islands.
To help disperse tourism more effectively Indonesia is developing 10 ‘new Balis’ including Mandalika in Lombok, Lake Toba and Wakatobi.
"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.
