Jakarta (Antara Bali) - Indonesian government seeks to attract at least 3.5 million of foreign visitors from South-East Asian countries (ASEAN) by 2013, according to tourism ministry's official.

"We could achieve the target of 3.5 million of ASEAN tourists next year," said Tourism and Creative Economy Deputy Minister Sapta Nirwandar  here on Sunday.

He also expressed optimism that the ministry could achieve the target of 1.75 million of Singaporean visitors, followed by 1.4 million of Malaysian visitors, 315,000 Philippines visitors and other foreign visitors in the region.

"As of now, ASEAN has contributed to attract large number of visitors to Indonesia over years," he added.

"Particularly, the economy of ASEAN countries is predicted to highly improve. Thus, it will boost the tourism across ASEAN countries to compete in the global market," He pointed out.

Sapta mentioned that the number of foreign visitors to Indonesia rose by 5.2 million during January-August 2012, dominated by the tourists from Singapore and Malaysia which reached as many as 788,249 and 704,644 visitors respectively.(*/DWA)

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Editor : Masuki


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