JAKARTA (ANTARA) – Indonesia considers China a valuable tourism market, said Tourism and Creative Economy Minister Sandiaga Salahuddin Uno, as he explored possible cooperation with Chinese companies Trip.com Group and Juneyao Airlines. During his visit to Shanghai, he highlighted that China is one of the largest sources of foreign tourists to Indonesia, with the number reaching about 2 million per year before the COVID-19 pandemic.
In a statement received from his office here on Friday, Uno said the visit was aimed at achieving the government’s goal of attracting 1 million to 1.5 million tourists from China this year.
Uno said he hopes that by working with companies, Indonesia can attract more tourists from China and establish itself as a popular destination for tourists from around the world.
“I hope that my visits to Trip.com and Juneyao Airlines will expand the scope of our cooperation,” he said.
The minister noted that Chinese tourists tend to prefer specialised trips that include specific activities such as hiking, camping, diving, golf and culinary tourism.
He noted that in 2019, Chinese tourists spent US$255 billion on outbound travel and tourism activities during their overseas trips.
In the post-pandemic era, Chinese tourists are set to be the world’s highest-spending travellers, with total spending reaching US$196.6 billion in 2023.
Uno emphasized that this figure exceeds the travel spending of American tourists, who spent $150 billion, German tourists, who spent $112 billion, British tourists, who spent $110 billion, and French tourists, who spent $49 billion.
“More than 56 percent of tourists from China are easily influenced by tourism-related content circulated on social media platforms,” he added.
He added that he hopes the partnership with Juneyao Air will help the airline increase its flight frequency to Indonesia and lead to the opening of new routes to other Indonesian cities.
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