By Anthony Tan
“The MICE industry is very important. The cities will become famous tourist destinations,
attracting more and more tourists,” said the Tourism and Creative Economy Minister Dr Mari Elka Pangestu as reported by Jakarta Post.
The Indonesian archipelago, spread across the South China Sea, offers many opportunities in tourism.
Mari intends to launch a campaign to promote 10 cities as Meeting, Incentives, Convention and Exhibition (MICE) destinations,
They are Bandung in West Java; Batam (Riau Islands); Denpasar (Bali); Jakarta; Medan (North Sumatra); Makassar (South Sulawesi); Manado (North Sulawesi); Mataram (West Nusa Tenggara), Surabaya (East Java) and Jogjakarta.
Other cities under consideration are Palembang in South Sumatra and Surakarta in Central Java.
Mari, who replaced former Culture and Tourism Minister Jero Wacik last October, said her ministry has established a MICE development department and will study how to develop international conventions, the facilities that they should have and how to train human resources.
She said the marketing department would be managed by her Deputy Minister Sapta Nirwandar who will will target conventions and bid for international events.
Sapta, formerly the Director General for Tourism Marketing in the Ministry for Culture and Tourism, was promoted to his current position during the last Indonesian cabinet reshuffle held last October.
The recent ASEAN Tourism Forum and travel exchange exhibition, held in Manado from 8-15 January as to promote it as a MICE destination, saw tourism ministers from the 10 ASEAN member countries, the United Nations’ World Tourism Organisation secretary-general and many tourism industry leaders and players gathered at the Grand Kawanua Convention Centre.
Bali will be playing host for the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) forum in 2013.
Mari said her ministry will be looking into other cities to host APEC-related smaller meetings in Indonesia during that time.
She said MICE tourists who visited Indonesia in 2010 numbered 236,000, representing 3.37% of its seven million arrivals compared to 205,000 MICE tourists in 2009, which accounted for or 3.24% of its total 6.3 million arrivals.
According to the International Congress and Convention Association (ICCA), Indonesia was ranked 39 in 2010 with 64 meetings while Singapore was ranked 25 with 136 meetings and Malaysia 29 with 119 meetings.
ICCA also ranked Jakarta 113 with 16 meetings while Bali was placed 67 with 27 meetings.
“The MICE industry is very important. The cities will become famous tourist destinations,
attracting more and more tourists,” said the Tourism and Creative Economy Minister Dr Mari Elka Pangestu as reported by Jakarta Post.The Indonesian archipelago, spread across the South China Sea, offers many opportunities in tourism.
Mari intends to launch a campaign to promote 10 cities as Meeting, Incentives, Convention and Exhibition (MICE) destinations,
They are Bandung in West Java; Batam (Riau Islands); Denpasar (Bali); Jakarta; Medan (North Sumatra); Makassar (South Sulawesi); Manado (North Sulawesi); Mataram (West Nusa Tenggara), Surabaya (East Java) and Jogjakarta.
Other cities under consideration are Palembang in South Sumatra and Surakarta in Central Java.
Mari, who replaced former Culture and Tourism Minister Jero Wacik last October, said her ministry has established a MICE development department and will study how to develop international conventions, the facilities that they should have and how to train human resources.
She said the marketing department would be managed by her Deputy Minister Sapta Nirwandar who will will target conventions and bid for international events.
Sapta, formerly the Director General for Tourism Marketing in the Ministry for Culture and Tourism, was promoted to his current position during the last Indonesian cabinet reshuffle held last October.
The recent ASEAN Tourism Forum and travel exchange exhibition, held in Manado from 8-15 January as to promote it as a MICE destination, saw tourism ministers from the 10 ASEAN member countries, the United Nations’ World Tourism Organisation secretary-general and many tourism industry leaders and players gathered at the Grand Kawanua Convention Centre.
Bali will be playing host for the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) forum in 2013.
Mari said her ministry will be looking into other cities to host APEC-related smaller meetings in Indonesia during that time.
She said MICE tourists who visited Indonesia in 2010 numbered 236,000, representing 3.37% of its seven million arrivals compared to 205,000 MICE tourists in 2009, which accounted for or 3.24% of its total 6.3 million arrivals.
According to the International Congress and Convention Association (ICCA), Indonesia was ranked 39 in 2010 with 64 meetings while Singapore was ranked 25 with 136 meetings and Malaysia 29 with 119 meetings.
ICCA also ranked Jakarta 113 with 16 meetings while Bali was placed 67 with 27 meetings.
