Below is a list with tagged columns and company profiles.

Today's Headlines Tourism

  • Foreigners Abuse Indonesia's Visa-Free Policy, Gov't to Evaluate

    Indonesia will evaluate its visa-free policy as there are reports that some foreigners abuse this facility by conducting illegal activities in Indonesia, for example by taking up employment without having a work permit, engaging in drug trafficking, or spreading radical ideologies in the Archipelago. Through Presidential Regulation no. 21/2016 on Exemptions of Visit Visa, the government of Indonesia allowed citizens from a total of 169 countries to enter and stay within Indonesia (for a maximum period of 30 days).

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  • Tourism in Indonesia: Tourist Arrivals Target 2016 Achieved?

    It is highly likely that Indonesia will achieve its foreign visitor arrival target of 12 million people in 2016. In the first ten months of 2016 a total of 9.4 million foreigners already visited Indonesia, up 9.5 percent year-on-year (y/y) compared to foreign visitor arrivals in the same period one year earlier. Moreover, before the year-end, Indonesia's Tourism Ministry will organize several events - including a soccer tournament on the island of Bintan as well as the Festival Wonderful Indonesia - that should attract many additional foreign tourist arrivals.

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  • Tourism in Indonesia: Adonara Group to Open 20 New Hotels

    The Adonara Group, an Indonesian hotel operator, plans to open 20 new hotels up to the end of 2017. Before the end of this year it will see two new hotels opening its doors. Meanwhile the Adonara Group also seeks business expansion through the purchase of the international brand "Continent Hotel". Ruben Amor, Chief Executive Officer at the Adonara Group, said the 20 new hotels - all ranging between two and four star hotels - that are planned to be opened up to the end of 2017 will use the Adonara and Continent Hotel brands.

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  • Indonesia Issues Travel Warning to Singapore due to Zika Virus

    Indonesia's Ministry of Health - in coordination with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs - issued a 'travel advisory' for Singapore as the small Southeast Asian nation has been plagued by an outbreak of the Zika virus. By Wednesday (31/08), 82 people were reported to have been infected by the virus in Singapore. By issuing the travel advisory Indonesian authorities discourage citizens from traveling to Singapore, particularly pregnant women are warned. Indonesia is no stranger to mosquito-borne illnesses. The country has to cope with frequent outbreaks of dengue fever and malaria.

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  • Authorities Indonesia to Limit Visitor Numbers at Borobudur Temple

    Nadjamuddin Ramly, Director of Heritage and Cultural Diplomacy at Indonesia's Ministry of Education and Culture, said authorities plan to limit the number of visitors that are allowed to enter the Borobudur temple in Magelang (Central Java) to 15 people at one time. This move would relieve rising pressure on the structure of the ancient building. Especially in weekends and holidays hundreds of visitors enter the site causing concern about the preservation of the temple that is listed by UNESCO as a World Heritage Site.

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  • Tourism Indonesia: Foreign Tourist Arrivals Rise 5.9% in H1-2016

    The number of foreign tourist arrivals in Indonesia reached 5.29 million in the first half of 2016, up 5.9 percent (y/y) from the same period one year earlier. This implies that only 44 percent of the government's full-year target has been achieved so far. Indonesia's Tourism Ministry targets to welcome a total of 12 million foreign visitors in 2016. Meanwhile, according to the latest data from Indonesia's Statistics Agency (BPS), foreign visitor arrivals declined in June 2016, both on a monthly and annual basis.

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  • World Bank Cuts Forecast for Indonesia's 2016 GDP Growth to 5.1%

    In its March 2016 Indonesia Economic Quarterly, titled "Private Investment is Essential", the World Bank cut its forecast for Indonesia's economic growth in 2016 to 5.1 percent year-on-year (y/y) from an earlier estimate of 5.3 percent (y/y). This downward revision was made due to weaker-than-expected global economic conditions, further weakening commodity prices, and limitations to Indonesian government spending brought about by a looming shortfall in tax revenue.

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  • Indonesia Missed its 2015 Foreign Tourist Arrivals Target, or Not?

    Based on the latest data from Statistics Indonesia (BPS), Indonesia only managed to welcome 9.73 million foreign tourists in 2015, hence failing to achieve the government target at 10 million foreign tourist arrivals. However, BPS also mentioned that it has developed a new counting system. According to this new system the number of people that are counted as foreign tourists in 2015 is 10.41 million, thus considerably exceeding the target set for 2015. What are the differences between these two systems?

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  • Tourism in Indonesia: Australia Gets the Visa-Free Visit Facility

    Indonesia's state news agency Antara reported on Friday (29/01) that the government of Indonesia will sign a regulation next week that allows visa-free visits for 80 additional countries, including Australia. Currently, a total of 90 countries already enjoy this visa-free facility (for trips that last a maximum of 30 days). Antara quoted the words of the country's Deputy Tourism Minister for Overseas Promotion I Gde Pitana. In 2015 the government provided this facility to an additional 45 countries in an effort to boost the tourism industry and generate more foreign exchange earnings.

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  • Indonesia's Movie & Tourism Industries Opened Wider to Foreign Investment

    The government of Indonesia is to allow bigger foreign ownership in a number of sectors. These sectors involve the cinema/film industry, tourism, leisure, trade, as well as the sugar and rubber industries. The move to increase opportunities for foreign investors by revising the country's Negative Investment List (in Indonesian: Daftar Negatif Investasi) is part of the government's ninth economic stimulus package (to be released soon), is designed to attract more foreign direct investment (FDI) into Indonesia.

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Latest Columns Tourism

  • Tourism in Indonesia: Strong Growth Visitor Arrivals on Bali

    A total of 1,555,609 foreign tourists have visited the island of Bali, the most popular tourist destination in Indonesia, in the first five months of 2015, an 11.3 percentage point growth from the same period last year. Given that the number of foreign tourists usually peaks in the period June-September it is most likely that the government’s target of welcoming 4 million foreign tourists on Bali in 2015 will be achieved, or exceeded. Most tourists that visit Bali originate from Australia, China and Japan.

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  • Booming Tourism: Hospitality Investment Conference Indonesia 2015

    On 12-13 May, the Hospitality Investment Conference Indonesia (HICI) 2015 will be held in Jakarta. The event, a collaboration between the Jakarta International Hotels Association, the Indonesian Hotel & Restaurant Association (Perhimpunan Hotel dan Restoran Indonesia) and Sphere Conferences (the conference arm of Singapore Press Holdings Limited), aims to become the leading platform in addressing opportunities and challenges in Indonesia’s hotel and hospitality industry.

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  • Visa Policy for Short Visits to Indonesia Revised to Boost Tourism

    Indonesian Minister for Economic Affairs, Sofyan Djalil, announced an economic policy package that is to be implement to boost the Indonesian economy, particularly in a move to improve the country’s current account balance, which is the broadest measurement of foreign exchange flows, including trade, services, interest payments and remittances. One new policy change involves visa-free travel into Indonesia. Starting from April 2015, Indonesia will allow foreigners from an additional 30 countries to enter Indonesia without a visa.

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  • Tourism in Indonesia: Record High Number of Foreign Visitor Arrivals

    The total number of foreign tourist arrivals to Indonesia in 2014 was 9.44 million, up 7.19 percent from the preceding year, meaning that the government target of welcoming 9.3 million foreign tourists last year was achieved. As usual, most foreign tourists entered Indonesia through the Ngurah Rai International Airport in Bali, the most famous tourist destination in the world’s largest archipelago. During the whole year of 2014 a total of 3.71 million foreigners spent some time on Bali.

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  • Tourism in Indonesia: Terrorism, Infrastructure and Asean Common Visa

    Tourism in Indonesia has posted impressive growth rates in recent years. This development is due to the fact that Indonesia has plenty of beautiful sites and cultural traditions to offer to foreign (and domestic) tourists, improved airline accessibility to Indonesia, and enhanced focus on promotional campaigns in foreign countries. Lastly, and not unimportantly, there have been no violent terrorist attacks in recent years. In the 2000s, a vicious terrorist attack always resulted in a temporary drop in foreign tourist arrivals.

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  • Effect of Banking Collapse; Southeast Asia Grows as Retirement Destination

    The western banking collapse of 2008 did more than cost investors large sums of money, it exposed markets to a renewed sense of vulnerability in that is typically thought of as the world’s most stable financial institutions. But one of the unintended (or unforeseen) results of these events has been the upsurge in alternative retirement destinations for those that are ending their working careers. Perhaps most surprising is the upsurge in the number of retirees moving to the Asia-Pacific region.

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  • Rising Tourism and Business; Foreign Investors Keen on Hotels in Indonesia

    With having more than 10,000 islands, Indonesia offers an unique natural scenery. The country contains all sorts of attractive options for tourism, including seas, beaches, mountains and much more. Not surprisingly, tourist arrivals in Indonesia continue to grow. Based on data from Statistics Indonesia (BPS), released in early November 2013, the number of foreign tourist arrivals between January and September 2013 reached 6.41 million, an increase of 8.8 percent from the same period last year.

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  • Tourism in Indonesia: One of Indonesia's Untapped Potentials? (Part I)

    Whenever the topic of tourism in Indonesia is touched upon, most people will instantly think of Bali. This small but famous island harbors all sorts of entertainment that will appeal to various segments of international tourism: beautiful landscapes, Balinese Hinduism, lively nightclubs, beaches and more. But apart from Bali - and despite the fact that Indonesia has much to offer on other islands - the country has disappointed in attracting a large amount of foreign tourists so far.

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