In the midst of rising relief and optimism concerning vaccinations, countries like Indonesia are now looking to China for their economic recovery, at least for a part of it when it comes to tourism.
Indonesia expects significant numbers of Chinese tourist arrivals from this year, although it might be too early to say that Southeast Asia’s largest country will ready enough so soon for welcoming tourists in the coming months.
For Indonesia, the most pertinent issue in the coming months is its ability to care for visitors from COVID-19 with adequate facilities and healthcare networks, which was discussed recently by President Joko Widodo, the newly appointed Minister of Tourism and Creative Economy Sandiaga Uno and other senior officials. Nationwide vaccination for the country’s 270 million people this year and beyond is posing an overwhelming challenge.
By 2019, Indonesia was the world’s third-most attractive tourist destination for Chinese travelers, after Japan and Thailand. Chinese tourist arrivals comprised the second-largest group after Malaysians during that time, reaching 2.07 million, or nearly 13 percent of total international arrivals, which reached 16.1 million.
Last April, Indonesia banned the incoming of leisure visitors “until the COVID-19 pandemic is over.”
Tourism is a dependable economic sector for Indonesia accounting for 5.5 percent of its GDP in 2019.
Hence, while boosting the development of tourism infrastructure and facilities in different areas of the vast archipelago, Indonesia has carried out major promotions over the years to attract more travelers, from China and other major source countries.
Tags: Chinese travelers, Indonesia
