Over Two Million Chinese Tourists to Visit Indonesia in 2017

Charge dAffaires of the Embassy of the Peoples Republic of China in Jakarta Sun Weide said here on Tuesday that the tourism cooperation between Indonesia and China continues to grow.

The Chinese Embassy has recorded around 560,000 Chinese tourists to have visited Indonesia during the first three months of this year.

"The number of Chinese tourists visiting Indonesia is estimated to reach more than two million this year," Sun Weide said in a press conference followed by an iftar at the Chinese Embassy in Jakarta.

Last year, 1.45 million Chinese tourists had visited Indonesia. The number was the second largest after Singapores with 1,47 million tourists.

It is estimated that the visiting Chinese tourists had contributed around two billion US dollars of foreign exchange to Indonesia last year, he said.

Cooperation in the tourism sector between Indonesia and China has been robust, he said.

On the same day, delegation from Guizhou Province of China held a conference to promote its tourism potential in Jakarta.

Ren Xiang Sheng, Guizhou Provincial Secretary in southwestern China, said the increased cooperation in the fields of tourism and culture has become part of efforts to strengthen Chinas One Belt and One Road (Obor) initiative.

In 2016, more than one million tourists had visited Guizhou, a region dotted with picturesque mountain in China. Out of one million visiting tourists, 128,000 were Indonesians.

Indonesian Ministry of Tourism has estimated that the number of Chinese tourists visiting Indonesia will reach 2.4 million in 2017, surpassing Singaporeans who were estimated to top around 2.275 million in the same year.

Achieving its 12 million tourist visit target in 2016, Indonesia has set a target to attract 15 million tourist in 2017.(*)