Tourism

Despite a range of economic and political challenges both at the national level and across the region, Indonesia’s tourism industry posted strong growth in most segments in 2016. According to data from the Ministry of Tourism (MoT), the country welcomed 12.02m foreign visitors, an increase of more than 15% on 2015. This figure matches almost exactly the government’s target of 12m tourist arrivals for the year. With this in mind, it was perhaps not surprising when in late December 2016 Arief Yahya, minister of tourism, announced that Indonesia had upped the ante further, targeting 15m tourist arrivals for 2017.

This chapter contains interviews with Taleb Rifai, Secretary-General, UN World Tourism Organisation; and Bram Hendrata, Managing Director, Ismaya Group.