The plan is in line with a directive issued by President Joko Widodo (Jokowi) who has voiced the need to revamp existing tourist attractions and to intensify promotional activities.
"We have a huge tourism potential, but the number of tourists is only seven million. This figure is very small as compared to those of neighboring countries such as Malaysia, Singapore, and Thailand," President Jokowi stated recently.
Tourism Minister Arief Yahya has set a target to achieve US$12.05 billion in foreign exchange earnings from tourism by the end of 2015.
"We have targeted foreign exchange earnings worth US$12.05 billion from 10 million tourists expected to visit the country until late this year," Minister Yahya remarked recently.
"The performance of our tourism industry in 2014 had been quite good. Therefore, we are targeting 7-8 percent growth, or 10 million tourist arrivals, in 2015," the minister noted.
He has also set the domestic tourist target at 254 million trips, with spending amounting to Rp201.5 trillion.
The tourism industry is also expected to absorb 11.3 million workers directly or indirectly, he added.
The minister informed the press that last year, the tourism industry contributed 3.78 percent to the national economy as against the set target of 4.25 percent, and foreign exchange earnings reached US$10.69 billion.
Last year, the government targeted to earn US$12 billion from the tourism industry. Some 11.21 million people were directly or indirectly working in the industry as compared to the set target of employing 8.74 million people, he pointed out.
"The achievement in 2014 has become the foundation for doubling our tourism target by 2019," Yahya observed.
By 2019, Indonesia targets to attract 20 million foreign tourists, to increase the number of domestic tourist trips to 275 million, and to generate 13 million job opportunities and foreign exchange earnings reaching Rp240 trillion.
Beginning 2015, the government established a free visa policy for short visits by Australians, Japanese, Koreans, Chinese, and Russians.
These countries were selected as they were the key markets of Indonesian tourism.
The government has also eased permit procedures for international yachters in order to boost the country's marine tourism industry.
Central Executive Board Chairman of the Indonesia Congress and Convention Association (INCCA) Alan Iqbal Abdullah hailed the government's free visa policy.
He even urged the government to increase the number of countries whose citizens are allowed visa-free travel to Indonesia for short visits.
"We propose to increase the number of visa-free countries. There are five countries: the UK, the Netherlands, France, the United States, and Germany," Iqbal recently stated after a hearing with the House of Representatives' (DPR's) Commission X.
Those countries have historical links with Indonesia, noted Iqbal.
"They come to Indonesia because they have a historical relationship," he pointed out.
The increase in the number of visa-free countries was needed to achieve the target of 20 million foreign visitors, according to him.
Krisna Mukti, a member of the House's Commission X, recently attributed the lack of creativity in the promotional activities of Indonesia's tourism sector for the relatively low number of foreign tourist arrivals in the country.
"Indonesia still lacks creativity in the methods it adopts to promote tourism. It needs to make breakthroughs if it wants to boost tourism in the country," the lawmaker asserted.
In the meantime, the industry sector in Indonesia has supported the government's efforts to maintain the country's branding "Wonderful Indonesia" in a bid to further develop the tourism sector in the country.
"The measure taken by Tourism Minister Arief Yahya to maintain the country's branding 'Wonderful Indonesia' is the right decision as it does not veer from the existing brand value," tourism observer Erik Meijer, who was the former marketing director of Indonesian flag carrier Garuda Indonesia, remarked recently.
He commended the fact that the branding "Wonderful Indonesia" now has its Indonesian version "Pesona Indonesia," which can be used to further promote tourism in the country.
According to him, Indonesia indeed needs a country branding as a way to market its tourism products, so as to attract more foreign tourists to the biggest archipelagic country in the world.
The minister's decision to maintain the branding "Wonderful Indonesia" is testament to the fact that Arief Yahya is a minister who is also a true marketer, he noted.
Under the umbrella of the country's branding, it is important for Indonesia to promote its tourist destinations, in addition to Bali, which has become an international tourist destination.
Indonesia, with its myriad interesting tourist attractions, has far greater tourism potential as compared to its neighboring countries, he pointed out.
"Unfortunately, we so far have yet to market them successfully. However, there has been an increase," he stated, citing the example of Garuda Indonesia, which has begun operating flights to remote destinations, through its Explore program, to offer easier access to new locations.
Among the new destinations is Labuan Bajo in East Nusa Tenggara province with the giant lizard Komodo as its prime tourism attraction. Garuda offers three daily scheduled flights with most of the passengers to Labuan Bajo being foreign tourists.
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