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CHINA AS A HUGE POTENTIAL MARKET FOR INDONESIAN INBOUND TOURISM INDUSTRY Padriadi Wiharjokusumo Email:
[email protected] Tourism and Hotel Academy of Darma Agung
Abstract Indonesia is expected to attract more Chinese tourists through active tourism promotion in China, such as the 12th China International Travel Mart (CITM) and the World Expo Shanghai China (WESC) 2010. Besides, the Indonesian government has been improving security and providing comfort for foreign tourists. Supporting infrastructures such as transportation, especially daily direct international flights Jakarta-Beijing, has been improved and increased. Chinese tourists are the fifth largest in Indonesia after Singapore, Malaysia, Japan and Australia. In 2011, as many as 470,000 Chinese tourists visited Indonesia out of total 7.65 million of foreign tourist. However, that not much information could be obtained by the Chinese tourists about Indonesia's tourism. 80 percent of them know Indonesia's tourism via the Internet whereas tourism information in the Internet is dominated by Bali. The purpose of this article is to determine the opportunities related to increase in the number of Chinese tourists travelling abroad, particularly for Indonesia. Research was conducted by studying the current publications, gathering and researching empirical statistical data and examination of case studies. Article presents the results of one of the first systematic scientific researches on this topic in the region. Keywords : tourism, Indonesia, China. 1.
INTRODUCTION In 2010, China had the second most developed economy in the world, with the United
States of America in first place, securing China’s title as one of the world’s superpowers. It has also become one of the world’s most popular destinations (Lim and Pan, 2003). The predictions that the Chinese economy could soon become the leading one in the world are now being actualized (Purushothaman and Wilson, 2003: 3). Chinese traditional values are changing together with the economic development; they are making way to the spirit of modern cooperation and globalisation. Due to changes in political relations, China’s role in the world is also changing. The intercultural communication skills are therefore now needed more than ever as only through communication can we cooperate successfully. Starting this year, Garuda has started direct flights between Jakarta and Beijing and Shanghai. Air China and China Southern have also increased flights between the
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metropolises. On the topic of Shanghai, the Indonesian Pavilion at the World Expo is a masterpiece
which
has
already
attracted
more
than
five
million
visitors.
For many Chinese, it is their first contact with a diversified Indonesia. As China-Indonesia economic ties become stronger, the two sides are eager to see boosted tourism and people-topeople exchanges. The tourism industry has been the third biggest revenue generator for Indonesia after energy and palm oil industries. The number of tourists from China coming into Indonesia was around 470,000 in 2011, according to Indonesian official figures. Indonesia has been working hard to boost the competitiveness of its tourism industry that may become a new engine of economic growth. Jakarta has asked the Association of Southeast Asian Nations to speed up implementation of a common visa for the 10-nation bloc in a bid to boost tourism. Indonesia, the world's largest archipelago country with 17,508 islands, boasts cultural and ethnic diversity, natural sights and historical heritage. The beauty and uniqueness of the island country attracted 7.65 million foreign holidaymakers last year, higher than the 7 million people in the previous year, according to the statistic agency. Pangestu said this year Indonesia is expecting 8 million foreign tourists and the number could reach 9.5 million in 2014. Bali island is the center of the country's tourism industry, and the Komodo dragon island is the habitat for the world's largest living species of lizards, which was declared last year as one of the world's new seven wonders by the World Seven Wonder Foundation. The world's largest temple of Borobudur in Yogyakarta province, the beauty of coral reef in Bunaken of South Sulawesi and Lombok island, have also attracted many foreign tourists. Indonesia also has tourism destinations linked with the expedition of historic Chinese marine explorer and diplomat fleet admiral Cheng Ho, or Zheng He, who sailed to Indonesia over 606 years ago, years before Christopher Columbus sailed the ocean looking for a sea route to Asia. Tourism is a cultural and economic export product, meant to bring profit (Kobal, 2010: 1). Modern tourism is becoming more and more important and consequently new practices are emerging in China, which show a more open-minded thinking and lifestyle of people. How people spend their free time, is also becoming more important. Because of the increasing purchasing power and opening up of China more and more Chinese people are now deciding to travel. Our main interests are the purchasing power of Chinese tourists, their number and habits and how it is possible to apply the findings from other destinations to the examples of Indonesia.
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2.
FRAMEWORK OF THINKING The research question originates from the title itself: Are Chinese tourists an
opportunity for the Indonesia’s tourist industry? - To reach the defined aims of the research and to test the question the following methods of scientific research were used: (1) studying the theory, (2) gathering and researching empirical statistical data and (3) of case study survey research. The main method of the theoretical part is the analytical comparison of literature. This section includes an overview of scientific and technical literature, outcomes of previous research and publicly available official statistics. The Internet sources are taken into account as well as the printed ones. 3. 3.1.
DISCUSSION Chinese economy The projections (Purushothaman and Wilson, 2003: 3) from the year 2003 predicted
that the Chinese economy will reach the range of the economy of the United States of America around the year 2041. More recent projections (e.g. Goldman Sachs) from 2009, show that the Chinese economy could catch up with the American economy by the year 2027. The reasons for this shorter time span lie in the fact that the Chinese economy reacted quicker and better to the global economic crisis than other states. Since 2007, China has contributed most to the rise of the economic upturn (O'Neill and Stupnytska, 2009: 23). 3.2.
World tourism The development of tourism increased extremely in the 20th century. Once it was
considered a luxury, available only to a small group of people, but today it is almost a necessity for the mass market. There are two concepts. According to the first, guests should behave according to the expected patterns. According to the second, every individual should strive for his own individualisation. The same applies to the tourist industry; it used to help develop particular regions or individuals in the local surroundings, however, today this is a business, which significantly helps develop the whole state economy. It contributes to indirect consumption (table 1), as well as helping increase direct revenue from tourism (table 2). In the last eleven years the number of tourists travelling outside their countries has increased by 300 million or 44% (UNWTO, 2012). At the projected pace of growth, international tourist arrivals worldwide are to surpass 1 billion by 2012. By 2020 the number
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is expected to reach close to 1.4 billion. The 1.5 billion mark will be in sight by 2023 and 1.8 billion by 2030 (UNWTO, 2011). Furthermore, tourism is one of the most important components of international trade. According to
analytical records of earnings from
international tourism, the tourism industry ranks third in the world, behind petroleum and chemical industries. According to Mathieson and Wall (1982); Seward et al. (1982), Duffield (1982) (all in Gržinic, 2006: 10) reasons for the economy to seek to develop tourism as an export industry are the following: •
creation of new industries and activities;
•
impact on employment;
•
the increase in urbanization;
•
increased income of the country in balance of payments and accelerating the development of national economy;
•
the redistribution of power through redistribution of capital in developed and developing countries;
•
tourism multiplier effects.
Table 1: Ten most visited tourist destinations (in millions of tourists) Country
2000
2005
2009
2010
France
77.2
75.0
76.8
77.1
USA
51.2
49.2
55.0
59.8
62.3
China
31.2
46.8
50.9
55.7
57.6
Spain
46.4
55.9
52.2
52.7
56.7
Italy
41.2
36.5
43.2
43.6
46.1
Turkey
9.6
20.3
25.5
27.0
29.3
United Kingdom
23.2
28.0
28.2
28.3
Germany
19.0
21.5
24.2
26.9
28.4
Malaysia
10.2
16.4
23.6
24.6
24.7
Austria
18.0
20.0
21.4
22.0
23.0
Slovenia
1.1
1.6
1.8
1.9
2.0
Croatia
6.2
8.5
9.3
9.8
9.9
The world
674.0
797.0
881.0
939.0
980.0
Slovenia’s share
0.16%
0.20%
0.20%
0.20%
0.21%
1.00
1.45
1.64
1.73
1.85
Base index Slovenia
2011
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Croatia’s share Base index Croatia China’s share Base index China
0.92%
1.06%
1.06%
1.04%
1.01%
1.00
1.37
1.50
1.58
1.60
4.63%
5.84%
5.78%
6.03%
5.88%
1.00
1.50
1.63
1.79
1.85
Source: World Tourism Organization In the last years of the 20th century, tourists’ needs became increasingly more important because of a quick social-economic development in the world. According to Ambrož (2005: 18), a crucial factor in tourism is recreation, which is increasing and is becoming a part of the economic sector. The manufacturing sector is decentralising and the service sector, part of which is also tourism, is developing quickly. Present times are marked by mobility. Post-modern tourism’s feature is the consumption of signs, symbols, logos, and brands, which are presented to tourists in theme parks, where they can enjoy exotic products, music and food. These parks are becoming new shopping centres. Another feature of postmodern tourism is the range of services and goods that tourists can choose between. (Ambrož, 2005: 18). The logical consequence is the development of big tourist destinations, which can be visited by tens of millions of visitors a year. Šuligoj (2009) emphasises the significance of quality coordination between tourist infrastructure, tourist superstructure and natural, cultural, historic, business, religious, sports and other factors or motivators for the visit. 3.3.
The tourism industry in China The development of tourism began after 1986, when the Chinese government
included the tourism industry in the national plan for social and economic development (Lim and Pan, 2003). In recent years, China has made fast progress. Since 1992, the number of visitors (table 1) and the income from tourism (table 2) has been increasing. The key factor was the return of Macao to China (McCarney and Nadkarni, 2003: 3-17).
Table 2: Income from tourism (in billion USD) Country USA Spain France China Italy Germany United Kingdom
2000 82.9 30.0 30.0 16.2 27.5 18.7 21.9
2005 82.2 48.0 44.0 29.3 35.4 29.2 30.7
2009 94.2 53.2 49.5 39.7 40.2 34.6 30.1
2010 103.5 52.5 46.6 45.8 38.8 34.7 32.4
2011 116.3 59.9 48.5 42.9 38.8
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Australia 9.3 Macao (China) 3.2 Hong Kong (China) 5.9 Slovenia 1.0 Croatia 2.8 The world 475.0 Slovenia’s share 0.21% Base index Slovenia 1.00 Croatia’s share 0.59% Base index Croatia 1.00 China’s share 3.41% Base index China 1.00 Source: World Tourism Organization
16.8 7.6 10.3 1.8 7.5 679.0 0.27% 1.80 1.10% 2.68 4.32% 1.81
25.4 18.1 16.4 2.5 8.9 853.0 0.29% 2.50 1.04% 3.18 4.65% 2.45
29.6 27.8 22.2 2.6 7.6 927.0 0.28% 2.60 0.82% 2.71 4.94% 2.83
30.4 27.2
2.99
By China, we mean the continental People’s Republic of China (PRC) including the economic zones and the territory of Macao. One of the most evident consequences of the economic and social reform in PR China after the year 1978 is the growing number of citizens migrating to the urban centres of China or abroad to improve their living standards and ensure a better life for themselves and their families (Bofulin, 2006; 2010). In 1952, 84% of the population lived in the countryside. By 1999 this share had decreased to 44%. The tourism industry has been positively influenced in recent years by the government’s directive to increase the purchasing power of the population and the consumption of secondary and first-rate products. Part of this directive is also increasing the number of work-free days and holidays. The influence of tourism on other sectors is not insignificant (Fan and Oosterhaven, 2005). In 1993, there were only 24 tourist agencies. By 2007 their number had increased to 17,882 agencies for the domestic market and 1,838 for the international market (Xi, 2010: 4). In 2006, China had 97 international airports, but planned to build another 142 by the year 2010. The organisation of the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing naturally played a role in that, and helped promote Chinese tourism (Xola Consulting, 2008). In 2001, only 12 million Chinese people had travelled outside of their home country. In 2009, the number was 47.6 million. The majority (88.6%) were private trips (Zhang and Liu, 2009: 3-6). China is bound to become the No. 1 international tourism source market in 2012. After 70,250,000 travellers crossed the border from Mainland China in 2011, for the current year the total number may well top the numbers of Germany and USA, which have been the two top source markets for many years. COTRI predicts that “unless there are major natural disasters or a new contagious disease scare, in 2012 COTRI expects the number of
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border crossings from mainland China to surpass 80 million and the average spending per trip to surpass US$1,000” (COTRI, 2012). The number of Chinese tourists will increase in the future because of ageing and their population distribution. The rural population is decreasing and moving to cities. They have more free time and a need for goods such as travelling (Xola Consulting, 2008). This is a big opportunity for the world tourism industry. According to the WTO, in 2010 Chinese tourists spent 53.4 billion USD overall (Table 3) and in 2011 the spending increased to 69 billion USD (COTRI 2012). This calculation includes destinations in the Chinese economic zones (Hong Kong, Macao, and Taiwan). The most popular foreign destinations are: Taiwan, Japan, South Korea, Thailand, Malaysia, Indonesia, the Philippines, Cambodia, Vietnam etc, so the Asian territory (China National Convention Center, 2010). The Chinese decide to travel on the basis of a destination’s status, the possibility of discovering a new culture, business needs and the possibility of shopping. They are wealthy and are interested in exclusive brands as well as in the offer of gaming, especially in recent years (Xola Consulting, 2008). An overview of Chinese tourist agencies websites shows (eg. Cits, Lavago, Lulu trip, Sctc, Tongcheng, Tuniu, Usitrip, Yododo) that many agencies promote gaming destinations (e.g. Las Vegas, Sun City, Niagara Falls). We did not notice any Indonesian gaming packages. 89% travel to Asia, 6% to Europe, 3% to the USA, and 1% to Africa and Oceania (Xola Consulting, 2008). A Chinese tourist spends on average 987 USD per trip (People's daily Online, 2010).
Table 3: Consumption of tourists (in billion USD) Country
2000
2005
2009
2010
2011
Germany 53.0 74.4 USA 65.4 69.9 China 13.1 21.8 United Kingdom 38.4 59.6 France 22.6 31.8 Italy 12.4 18.0 Japan 15.7 22.4 Russia 31.9 27.3 Canada 6.4 11.3 the Netherlands 8.8 17.3 The world 475.0 679.0 China’s share 2.76% 3.21% Base index China 1.00 1.66 Source: World Tourism Organization
81.2 74.1 43.7 50.1 38.4 24.2 27.9 25.1 17.6 20.9 853.0 5.12% 3.34
78.1 75.5 54.9 50.0 38.5 29.6 27.1 27.9 22.2 26.5 927.0 5.92% 4.19
84.3 79.1 69.0. 52.0 43.7 33.0 28.7 27.6 27.3 27.1
5.27
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The number of Chinese tourists travelling to Europe has been increasing in recent years. 6% of Chinese tourists (or two million) visit Europe. On one trip they usually visit several countries and spend an average of 1,781 USD per trip (People's daily Online, 2010). An important obstacle for their travels to Europe is getting a visa for the Schengen zone. Due to visas, permits, language and finances they would rather travel to closer destinations. A typical Chinese tourist usually travels in an organised group, which simplifies getting the travel permits and visas. The trip lasts ten to twenty days and they are willing to spend up to 2,000 dollars for brands, because they are much more expensive in China (People's daily Online, 2010). However, according to COTRI (2012), a new type of Chinese tourists is emerging. These “New Chinese Tourists” are increasingly travel-savvy and globally connected, younger than 45, travel to more diverse locations and stay longer. They often speak some English or another foreign language, however they are happy to see signage and other information in Chinese, as a sign of respect for their country. For longer trips they prefer slower travel forms and are more likely to add smaller destinations and special interest sights and activities to their itinerary. They are willing to spend money on sophisticated branded goods. It should not be forgotten that more than 1.1 million households in China have over one million USD in cash assets, while the average age of those millionaires is only 39 years (COTRI, 2012). Knowing the cultural features of Chinese guests allows for unique offers that guests will appreciate. When organising business for a new market segment of guests (especially Chinese). Karoul (2007) advises to be careful about: (1) history and culture, (2) which games are closest to one culture, (3) special features of the season, religious holidays, habits and traditions, (4) eating, (5) entertainment, (6) where to advertise, (7) what are the expected special offers, (8) when to organise celebrations, (9) how to communicate with them, (10) how to train the staff and (11) how to get and stay ahead of the competition. The main airport lines connect Beijing with all the major European cities, e.g. Athens, Istanbul, Barcelona, Lisbon, Madrid, Paris, London, Amsterdam, Brussels, Zurich, Berlin, Prague, Vienna, Salzburg, and Rome. Airports close to Slovenia and Croatia are: Rijeka, Zagreb, Zadar, Dubrovnik, Trieste, Udine, Venice, Milan, and Florence. When travelling to Europe, the Chinese usually visit France, Switzerland, Great Britain, Germany, and Italy (Xola Consulting, 2008). They usually see the capitals (London, Vienna, and Paris) or the world famous destinations (Venice, Salzburg). Getting married in Paris is a dream-come-true for many Chinese people. Newlyweds, travelling on a nine-day honeymoon to Paris, Switzerland, or Italy, enjoy shopping and visiting vineyards or one of
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many castles in the region. The Chinese tourists wish to see as many capitals, places and sights in as little time as possible. Holiday packages including more than one country are not interesting for other nationalities, but for the Chinese tourists it is something usual (UNWTO, 2003). An overview of the Chinese travel agencies websites shows that the usual number of countries is between three and seven. The number depends on the size of the country and the number of sights in it. In order to stimulate the tourist development, PR China and the EU signed a memorandum in 2004 to increase the number of trips made by organised groups from China to the EU. This should strengthen tourism in China as well as in the EU. It should also assist the controlling of illegal immigration and promote travel and economic exchange. Another important factor is that the Chinese living in Europe are starting to travel as well. The number of Chinese living in Italy has increased from 111,712 in 2005 to 181,000 in 2010 or by 62% (Wikipedia 2011). In 2008, 800,000 Chinese visited Italy and in the year 2009 there were as many as two million Chinese tourists in Italy (Cmsbooking, 2010). A part of the tourism offer for the Chinese visitors that deserves special attention is gambling and gaming. 3.4. 3.4.1.
INDONESIA TOURISM PERFORMANCE INTERNATIONAL VISITOR ARRIVALS
The international arrivals to Indonesia in 2011 reached 7.65 million representing 9.24% growth over 2010 (Table 4 and 5). It generated foreign exchange earnings of US$ 8.55 billion or an increased of 12.51% compared to the year 2010. The International Arrivals to Indonesia for the last decade can be seen on figure 2 ( Indonesia Tourism Performance 2011). Table 4 : Average Expenditure and Foreign Exchange Earnings 2010 – 2011
YEAR
2010
2011
Growth (%)
Tourist Arrivals (Million)
7.00
7.65
9.24
Average Expenditure per visit (USD)
1,085.75
1,118.26
2.99
Foreign Exchange Earning (Billion USD)
7.60
8.55
12.51
Source : Statistics Indonesia, MTCE, 2012.
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Table 5: International Visitor Arrivals 2002 – 2011 International Visitor Arrivals
Average Expenditure
Average Length of Stay
Foreign Exchange Earnings
(USD) YEAR Arrivals
Growth (%)
Per Visit
Per Day
Million USD
Growth (%)
2002
5.033.400
-2,33
893,26
91,29
9,79
4.496,15
-17,18
2003
4.467.021
-11,25
903,74
93,27
9,69
4.037,02
-10,21
2004
5.321.165
19,12
901,66
95,17
9,47
4.797,90
18,85
2005
5.002.101
-6,00
904,00
99,86
9,05
4.521,90
-5,75
2006
4.871.351
-2,61
913,09
100,48
9,09
4.447,98
-1,63
2007
5.505.759
13,02
970,98
107,70
9,02
5.345,98
20,19
2008
6.234.497
13,24
1.178,54
137,38
8,58
7.347,60
37,44
2009
6.323.730
1,43
995,93
129,57
7,69
6.297,99
-14,29
2010
7.002.944
10,74
1.085,75
135.01
8.04
7.603,45
20,73
2011
7.649.731
9,24
1,118.26
142.69
7.84
8.554,39
12,51
(day)
Source : Statistics Indonesia, MTCE, 2012 The achievement of Indonesia’s international visitor arrivals contributed 0.58% share of the world tourist arrival in 2006 and increased to 0.78% in 2011; 2.93% of Asia Pacific in 2006 and increased to 3.52% in 2011; and 9.17% of Southeast Asia in 2006 and increased to 9.92% in 2011 (Table 6).
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Table 6: Tourism Performance, Indonesia compared to Global Share Indonesia (2006) to:
Share Indonesia(2011) to :
World
: 0.58%
World
: 0.78%
Asia Pacific
: 2.93%
Asia Pacific
:3.52%
S.E Asia
: 9.17%
S.E Asia
: 9.92%
Source : Statistics Indonesia, MTCE,UNWTO,2012 3.4.2.
TOURISM ECONOMIC IMPACT Based on the Tourism Satellite Account 2011 Indonesia, tourism has a strategic
contribution for Indonesia Economy, namely: 1. contribution to National GDP: 4.06% 2. contribution to employment: 6.87% of total national workforce or 7.44 million people. The magnitude of this contribution can be an effective manner to alleviate poverty. 3. contribution to indirect taxes with 9.35 trillion rupiah.
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Table 7: Tourism Economic Impact 2010 Tourism Sector No. 1
Economic Impact Output
Nominal 565.15 IDR Trillion
National Percentage 4.73 11,956.62 IDR Trillion
2
GDP
261.06
IDR Trillion
4.06
6,422.92
IDR Trillion
3
Employment opportunities
7.44
Million people
6.87
108.21
Million people
4
Salaries
84.80
IDR Trillion
4.63
1,831.09
IDR Trillion
5
Indirect taxes
9.35
IDR Trillion
4.16
225.10
IDR Trillion
Source:Tourism Satellite Account 2011
3.4.3.
POLICY AND STRATEGY OF TOURISM DEVELOPMENT Indonesia policy on tourism sustainable development is directed to support 4 (four)
pillars of national development strategy: pro poor, pro growth, pro job, and pro environment. Indonesia tourism development policy and strategy is reflected on: 1.Tourism Law number 10, the year 2009 2.National Tourism Development Master Plan 2010-2025 3.National Master Plan of Acceleration and Expansion of Indonesian Economic Development 2011-2025 4.National Long-Term Development Plan 2004-2025 and National Mid-Term Development Plan 2010-2015 5.National Tourism Strategic Plan 2010-2014 The new Tourism Law serves as guidance for: 1. Tourism development plan at national, provincial, and local/municipal level. 2. Development of: a. tourism industry
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b. tourism destination c. promotion and marketing d. development of tourism resources and institution 3. Setting the Rights and Obligations of: a. tourists b. entrepreneur c. central and local government d. community In 2011, Indonesia has launched the National Master Plan of Acceleration and Expansion of Indonesian Economic Development 2011-2025 which aims to boost high and sustainable economic growth by doing a breakthrough approach and not doing business as usual. This Master Plan, with keywords: “Acceleration and Expansion”, serves as complementary to the National Long-Term Development Plan from 2004 to 2025 and is expecting to bring Indonesia to be more developed by 2025. In this master plan, tourism development is focused in Bali, West and East Nusa Tenggara. In line with this, National Tourism Development Master Plan 2010 – 2025 has been formulated which serves as umbrella to set Tourism Development Plan in provincial, regional and local level. The Master Plan has identified to develop 50 national tourism destinations that consist of 88 national tourism strategic areas and 222 potential tourism development areas until the year 2025. In the period of 2012-2014, Indonesia targets the growth of 8 million international visitor in 2012, 9 million in 2013, and 10 million in 2014. In order to achieve this target, the government works on several efforts such as: 1. Gradually enhancing Visa on Arrival facilitation from 36 countries in 2005 to 65 countries since 2010. 2. Implementing Free Visa for Short Visit to 13 countries plus Hongkong SAR and Macau SAR 3. Improving quality of tourism destinations through tourism infrastructure development and capacity building for human resources 4. Developing thematic tourism products 5. Creating new events in destinations, such as Sport, Culture, MICE events 6. Increasing accessibility to destinations, by opening new airports, increasing capacity of seaports, enlarging air connectivity, etc.
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7. Developing responsible marketing with the brand: “Wonderful Indonesia” meaning wonderful nature, culture, people and culinary. 8. Developing the creative economic sector to enhance tourism development, and vice versa. 9. Developing cruise tourism. As an archipelago country with rich diversities, Indonesia also develops Cruise Tourism. As shown in Figure 5 and 6, the growth of cruise tourism has been overwhelming with the number of 214 cruise calls in 2010 brings about 127.058 passengers. Despite the decreased number of calls in 2011 (189 calls), Indonesia still received 132.008 passengers. This number is supported by the fact that cruise ships calling Indonesia is now in bigger dimension and with larger capacity 3.4.4
ACCOMMODATION In 2011, the total number of accommodation is 15,283 hotels, which consists of 1,489
classified hotels (one to five star rated hotel), and 13,794 hotels (non-classified) with a cumulative capacity of 381,457 rooms. In line with the increasing number of visitor arrivals to Indonesia, the average of occupancy rate of classified hotel also increased from 50.51% in 2010 to 52.82% in 2011.
Table 8: Room Occupancy Rate of Classified Hotel in Twenty Provinces 2011/2010 20 Provinces
2010 (percent) 66.12
2011 (percent) 65.08
Change (point)
Bali
60.67
64.62
3.95
East Kalimantan
47.04
57.47
10.43
DKI Jakarta
55.04
56.95
1.91
South Kalimantan
52.77
56.36
3.59
Lampung
49.07
54.97
5.90
DI Yogyakarta
49.21
50.81
1.60
West Nusa Tenggara
46.30
50.39
4.09
East Java
48.99
49.71
0.72
West Java
49.25
48.96
-0.29
Central Sulawesi
-1.04
15
Riau
45.24
48.89
3.65
West Sumatera
47.97
48.69
0.72
North Sulawesi
44.11
48.57
4.46
Bangka Belitung Islands
40.54
48.08
7.54
West Kalimantan
39.43
45.94
6.51
Jambi
45.78
45.62
-0.16
South Sulawesi
44.71
45.55
0.84
Riau Archipelago
40.54
44.08
3.54
Central Java
41.19
43.34
2.15
North Sumatera
42.97
42.80
-0.17
50.51
52.82
2.31
Average
Source : Statistics Indonesia, MTCE, 2011 4.
ATTRACTING MORE TOURISTS FROM CHINA Indonesia is expected to attract more Chinese tourists through active tourism
promotion in China, such as the 12th China International Travel Mart (CITM) and the World Expo Shanghai China (WESC) 2010. Chinese tourists are the fifth largest in Indonesia after Singapore, Malaysia, Japan and Australia. In 2011, as many as 356,000 Chinese tourists visited Indonesia out of total 7.65 million of foreign tourist. However, a majority of Chinese tourists have selected Bali province as their main destination in Indonesia, as Bali is so famous compared with other parts of Indonesia. This posts a challenge for the central government, especially for local ones to promote other regions of the country to attract Chinese tourists as these regions have many attractive destinations with various cultures, arts and landscape beauties. In fact, Indonesia has a chance to attract more Chinese tourists as both countries have a characteristic proximity. "Chinese people like Chinese-friendly things, such as culinary and tradition," Counsel of Social and Culture in the Indonesian Embassy for China Rosmalawati Chalid said on the sideline of the China International Travel Mart in Shanghai recently. Chalid said that since an open economy policy adopted in 1978, China's tourism has been growing rapidly. The fast economy growth promotes the increase of Chinese tourists. In
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1998, the number of Chinese tourists was only 5.32 million with six favorite countries as their tourism destination. In 2012, the number increased to 50 million to all over the world. However, Chalid argued that not much information could be obtained by the Chinese about Indonesia's tourism. 80 percent of them know Indonesia's tourism via the Internet whereas tourism information in the Internet is dominated by Bali. Therefore, Indonesia needs to be more active in promoting tourism destination besides of Bali. Promotion Director of the Tourism Ministry Esthy Reko Astuty also admitted that tourism promotion in China is not enough. According to her most of them only know Bali. So, Indonesia might invite the tour operators from China to see other regions like Manado, of North Sulawesi province and Sumatra island as well. Titien Maryatin Soekarya, an official of the Tourism Ministry, said that China is expected to be the largest tourist supplier in the world in near term. "At least there will be 100 million Chinese tourists going abroad in 2015 and Indonesia is ready to welcome them," she said at the St. Ragis Hotel of Shanghai recently in a table-top that was a part of a series of programs made by the ministry in the 12th China International Travel Mart.
5.
CONCLUSION China as the world’s largest economy represents a big market potential due to the size
of its population as well as its economic growth. More and more often, Chinese are deciding to travel abroad because of their bigger purchasing power and increased freedom to travel. They are well-appreciated guests also because of their attitude towards traveling. Due to cultural differences, they need tailored offers and specific treatment during their stay, including adjusted menus with Chinese food and Chinese speaking hosts. Through these findings we can see the opportunities for Indonesia and their tourism potentials. These two countries can become a starting point for Chinese tourist’s travels to Indonesia, as many countries are within short reach, which can satisfy the main motive of many Chinese tourists. They want to see as many attractions and sights in as little time as possible. Most of the journeys could be done within some days, while being accommodated in international standard hotels. It depends on our business sense if we will seize this opportunity. The institutions in charge should establish the conditions for strengthening the economic cooperation between the two countries. Common projects and investments into tourism and logistics are of vital importance. A regular air shuttle service from China to some big cities in Indonesia should be established
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as soon as possible because the Chinese tourist just know Bali and Jakarta. Geographical position and the proper niche markets have already been given to us, we just have to properly introduce them to our business partners in China. ▪ Note: This article has been published on the journal of Lembaga Penelitian dan Pengabdian Masyarakat Universitas Darma Agung Volume: XXII/April/2013.
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