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INDONESIA is on a drive to lure Chinese-Muslim tourists from three major cities – Xi’an, Yinchuan and Beijing – to promote the country as a halal destination in the region.
Riyanto Sofyan, chairman of the Halal Tourism Acceleration and Development Team of Indonesia’s Ministry of Tourism, said: “Our sales mission is a key element of our ongoing drive to increase our appeal to Muslim tourists across the world and become the destination of choice.
“China is a key market for us especially as we (share) a long-standing relationship, economic partnerships and close proximity. Our aim is to attract a greater share of the Chinese tourists who travel to destinations in our region each year.”
Indonesia is a key halal destination in the region and plans are underway to develop several areas as emerging halal destinations, including Banda Aceh, Aceh Besar, Sabang, and Lake Laut Tawar.
This year, Indonesia has ambitious plans to pull in 3.1 million Muslim tourists with hopes to overtake Malaysia by year-end, and Thailand by 2019.
In general, Indonesia pulled in over two million Chinese tourists, and South China Morning Post reported that Indonesia’s tourism ministry is offering incentives to national airlines to expand their services beyond China’s biggest cities to places such as Xi’an, Kunming, and Guilin.
Indonesia currently rivals Thailand, Malaysia, and Vietnam in terms of Chinese tourism dollars.
The post Indonesia wants to woo Chinese-Muslim tourists appeared first on Travel Wire Asia.
Source: travelwireasia.com