Indonesia to double tourist arrivals from China

JAKARTA - Indonesia intends to double tourist arrivals from China by 2014 as bilateral relations have developed rapidly in recent years, Indonesia's Tourism Minister Mari Elka Pangestu has said.

Indonesia would like to have more flights to China, with the aim of attracting 1 million tourists from the world's second largest economy by 2014, the minister told Xinhua ahead of a Chinese leader's visit to the country.

Li Changchun, a member of the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China Central Committee, is currently on a four-nation overseas tour.

The Chinese leader has visited Britain, Canada and Colombia and is expected to arrive in Indonesia on Thursday. The visit will last till Saturday.

To attract more Chinese tourists, Indonesia's leading carrier PT Garuda Indonesia has opened an office in Beijing and is planning to provide daily Jakarta-Beijing flights.

Pangestu, who is of Chinese origin, said the weakening global economy would not have a significant impact on the country's tourism industry as the government has diversified its market to emerging economies in Asia.

"We will see that Asia would not be significantly impacted by the global economic crisis. We will boost our promotion to penetrate the market in Asia, such as China, South Korea, India and Russia."

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.