Doha: With an aim to boost cultural ties with Qatar, Indonesia has launched a campaign to promote tourism between the two countries.
Two-way tourism between Indonesia and Qatar is currently low, which is mainly because of lack of awareness about popular tourist destinations in both countries, according to a senior Indonesian official.
“We have very few tourists from Qatar and similarly many people in Indonesia also don’t know much about Qatar yet,” Cucu Ahmad Kurnia, the Promotion Director from Jakarta Tourism and Culture office, said.
He said that less than 1,000 Qataris visit Indonesia every year, while some 1,000 expatriates also visited the country.
Officials from the Jakarta department of tourism and culture were in Doha recently and said that while Bali was a popular tourist destination in Indonesia, the government also wanted to identify Jakarta as a tourism hub of the nation.
“Jakarta has become one of the most sought after tourist destinations for foreign tourists, including those from the Middle East region number. After promotions in Malaysia and China, we held our road show in Turkey and Qatar to encourage people to visit Jakarta,” head of Culture and Tourism Office of Jakarta, Arie Budiman, said.
Budiman said that people from the Middle East are popular for spending more on tourism and they also tend to stay longer during their vacations compared to travelers from other regions.
“From the total number of foreign tourists who come to Indonesia the majority of them come from Malaysia and then China, Japan, Singapore.”
More than 30 million people visited Jakarta last year.
Officials said that there are nearly 1,257 entertainment and recreation facilities, which presents more than 19 types of entertainment that are ready to provide a variety of experiences joy and comfort for travelers.
“Jakarta offers different types of entertainment facilities, it has many malls and luxury spas,” Hasiiyanna Syarain Ashadi, from the association of the Indonesian tour and travel agency said.
The Peninsula
