Tag: Indonesia

An American woman and self-described digital nomad will be deported from Indonesia after posting tweets that sparked a social media backlash over perceived western privilege and lack of cultural awareness after she said Bali was “LGBT friendly”. Indonesia is the world’s largest Muslim-majority nation and its LGBT community has for years faced discrimination and sometimes violent attacks. Only 9% of Indonesians agreed that homosexuality is acceptable, according to a survey by the Pew research center last June. In a series of tweets at the weekend, Kristen Gray wrote about the perks of her decision to move to the tropical island ... Read more

Indonesia witnesses a total of 15.81 million foreign tourist footfalls during the year 2018, according to Statistics Indonesia (BPS). Though it could not achieve the government’s target of attracting 17 million tourists, the figure depicts a 12.58 per cent growth in tourist arrivals from 2017. Thara and Goutham in Yogyakarta, Indonesia “We saw a significant increase in December, particularly during the Christmas and New Year’s Eve holiday, when the number of visitors jumped to 1.41 million, or up by 21.43 per cent month-to-month,” said BPS head Suharyanto  at the BPS headquarter in Jakarta. Suharyanto pointed out Indonesian tourism took a ... Read more

South Sulawesi, the province on the island of Sulawesi in Indonesia, famous for its picturesque landscapes, beaches and islands and hanging graves, will have a new logo for tourism. Photo Courtesy: The Jakarta Post The new logo was introduced by the governor Nurdin Abdullah, expressing hope that it could serve as a familiar icon among local and international communities. The logo was chosen from the tourism identity rebranding competition held by the local administration in search of a fresh look for its tourism program.  The selected logo was created by Rahmat Zulfikar, a contestant in the competition “We appreciate what ... Read more

Bali island Indonesia has enacted a ban on single-use plastics such as shopping bags, styrofoam and straws in efforts to restrain pollution in its waters, reports a local daily. With this new policy, the government envisages 70 per cent reduction in Bali’s marine plastics by 2019, announced Bali governor Wayan Koster a day earlier. “This policy is aimed at producers, distributors, suppliers and business actors, including individuals, to suppress the use of single-use plastics,” said Koster. “They must substitute plastics with other materials,” added Koster. The policy, which has a six-month grace period, is already in force from 21st December. ... Read more

A magnitude 5.8 earthquake hit the eastern Indonesian province of West Papua today, causing nervous residents to panic about a week after a tsunami killed hundreds further west in the archipelago. Though the US Geological Survey gave a 5.8 magnitude, Indonesian authorities measured the quake with a magnitude of 6.1 and said it was “felt quite strongly for several seconds”. There were no immediate reports of casualties or damage. The region in Papua, which makes up half the island known as New Guinea, is sparsely populated. The epicentre of the quake was on land near the city of Manokwari at a ... Read more

Astari Indah Vernideani of Indonesia has won the Miss Tourism International 2018/2019 title, during the finals held at the Sunway Resort Hotel & Spa in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. She was crowned by last year’s winner Jannie Alipoon of the Philippines. Julieane Aya Fernandez of the Philippines was named “Dream Girl of the Year International. Kenya’s Sarah Pkyach was named “Miss Tourism Metropolitan International,” Australia’s Sandra Callahan won “Miss Tourism Global,” while Latvia’s Laura Scuchare got “Miss Tourism Cosmopolitan International.” The host delegate from Malaysia was given a special award called “Miss Southeast Asia Tourism Ambassadress.

The Ministry of Tourism of Republic of Indonesia (MoTRI) has signed a strategic agreement with MakeMyTrip to promote Indonesian Tourism in India. Under this partnership, MakeMyTrip and MoTRI will actively run campaigns across MakeMyTrip platforms to endorse tourism to Bali, Jakarta and other regions in Indonesia. MakeMyTrip will launch a 360-degree online campaign on its platforms, external websites and social media to promote tourism to Indonesia. Through this association MakeMyTrip will aim to tap additional footfall of Indian tourists in Indonesia, this year. “We greatly look forward to working with the Ministry of Tourism of Republic of Indonesia to build ... Read more

Bali, Indonesia Indonesian President Joko Widodo has vowed to handle Indonesia’s current account deficit, which has been rocketing these years. Currently the deficit is about US$25 billion. The President stated that by enhancing the revenue from tourism and reducing the overall fuel imports by increasing the use of indigenous biodiesel. The President has met Indonesian industrialists on Tuesday, 28th August 2018 to discuss global economic volatilities that are affecting the emerging markets, including Indonesia. He also discussed with them government’s strategies to deal with these risks. “People were worried about the impact of the trade conflicts between China and United ... Read more

The last couple of months have been testing times for Indonesia as the South East Asian nation was facing good number of natural disasters. But, Nia Niscaya, Deputy Minister of Tourism Marketing, Ministry of Tourism, Republic of Indonesia (MoTRI), said that it was Indian tourists who supported the disaster-hit nation. “Due to Mount Agung eruption last year in Bali, Indonesia has suffered a loss of over one million tourists but it was the Indian market that helped the country resurrect its position in the global tourism market. There was 30 per cent year-on-year increase in terms of Indian arrivals in 2017, ... Read more

A powerful 6.4-magnitude earthquake struck the Indonesian island of Lombok today, which killed at least  10 people and injured 40 plus in the tourist island.  The quake struck at a depth of 7 kilometers (4.4 miles) at 6:47 am local time (2247 GMT Saturday), the United States Geological Survey said. The quake struck 50 km (30 miles) northeast of Lombok’s main city Mataram, the USGS said, far from the main tourist spots on the south and west of the island. Lombok in southeastern Indonesia is a popular tourist destination, and lies around 100 km east of the resort island of Bali. Island ... Read more

As a way to bring in major growth in tourism sector, Indonesia is eyeing France, a major force in European tourist market by associating with French travel organizers. Deputy Tourism Minister Nia Niscava, who also oversees the marketing growth in Europe, said the association with local French travel agents and organizers will definitely result in the increase of French tourists to the country. The ongoing talk with the French travel agencies and organizers have already resulted in surveying places and accommodations in Bali from July to August by them to bring in considerable number of French tourists to the much ... Read more

Twelve countries, including United States, United Kingdom, Australia, Singapore and Malaysia, have issued travel advisories for their citizens in Indonesia following recent terrorist attacks in Surabaya and Sidoarjo in East Java. Tourism Minister Arief Yahya said that issuing travel advisories was a country’s responsibility to alert its citizens. “Travel advisories meant a country was still safe to visit, explaining that there were three levels of alerts, namely travel advisory, travel warning and travel ban,” he said. He also explained that several countries issued travel warnings last year amid Mount Agung’s eruption in Karangasem, Bali, with island seeing a loss of ... Read more

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi is all set to visit Jakarta and talks are already on to develop a cruise tourism circuit between Andaman & Nicobar Islands and Indonesia as part of steps to bolster bilateral ties. Union minister Nitin Gadkari met Luhut Binser Pandjaitan, Coordinating Minister of Maritime Affairs of Indonesia, and discussed ways to take ahead bilateral relations between the countries. Developing a cruise tourism circuit between Andaman and Nicobar Islands and Indonesia and thus implementing Govt of India’s vision to put India on the global cruise market both for ocean & river cruises under its Sagarmala programme was highlighted in ... Read more

Renaissance Hotels, part of Marriott International, has announced its debut in Indonesia, with the opening of the brand’s first hotel in Bali. The 207-key Renaissance Bali Uluwatu Resort & Spa is thoughtfully-designed to reinterpret the destination’s rocky cliff coastlines through contrasting materials, such as raw concrete and refined rattan. “The spectacular new Renaissance Bali Uluwatu Resort & Spa sets the stage for discovering the beautiful island of Bali. With its artful design, vibrant authentic dining scene and engaging experiences around every corner, the hotel joins the current global portfolio of more than 160 hotels, with 15 new hotels scheduled to open in ... Read more

Global timeshare firm RCI has recently published a report which studied holiday and vacation patterns of 50,000 RCI members in India, and found that there was a 13 per cent growth in the number of Indians taking vacations abroad in 2017-18. The report,  found that the US was the most preferred destination in 2017-18 while for those headed for Europe, Switzerland and Spain were the top choices. The report also said that there is an 8 per cent growth in domestic travel, with Goa being the preferred choice in 2017-18, followed by Coorg and Munnar. Among the South-East Asian countries, the top picks were ... Read more