Government To Help Relaunch Tourism Promotion In Japan

Denpasar (Antara Bali) - The government will team up with business players to promote Indonesian tourism in Japan, head of the Bali tourism office Anak Agung Gede Juniartha Putra has said.

"We will tell the plan to the Central Government. More aggressive promotion is important as Japan is a potential market," Juniartha Putra said here on Friday night.

The difficulty is limited direct flights between Japan and Bali, he said on the sidelines of welcoming a group of Japanese tourists using chartered flight at the Gusti Ngurah Rai International Airport .

Continued promotion is needed although Bali has been well known all over the world. Promotion could be conventionally or through networks to convince Japanese tourists, he said.

"Interest in visiting Bali is strong among Japanese tourists. It is obvious from their using chartered flight of the Japan Airlines to carry 587 persons in three flights on June 17, 20 and 23," Juniartha Putra said.

Juniartha said one of the main factors to promote tourism is availability of transport facility or regular flights.

Since Japan Airlines (JAL) stopped flights to Bali in September 2010, the number of Japanese tourists to Bali has declined sharply.

"Japanese tourists want direct flight. Indeed since JAL stopped service to Bali, there was another airline taking over in serving the Jaoan-Bali route, but generally Japanese have greater confidence in their own airlines," Juniarta said.

Juniartha Putra said he hoped that when JAL resumes service to Bali from Narita, the number of Japanese tourists would continue to rise in number.

Bali has set a target for foreign visits at 5.5 million in 2017.

"We are optimistic the number of foreign visitors would increase from year to year, therefore, we need to coordinate with the regional administration and the tourism ministry in promoting Bali in Japan. The tourism Ministry is also interested in attracting more foreign tourists to meet the target of 20 million tourists to visit the country in 2019," Juniarti said.

Meanwhile, President Director of Rama Tours Travel, Makiko Iskandar, said it is time to relaunch promotional campaign in Japan while seeking to persuade JAL into reopening regular flights to Bali.

"More aggressive promotions is needed . Certainly the cost of promotion is expensive, but long term result is also big in foreign exchange income," Makiko said.

Therefore, the right step is launching promotion in Japan especially as JAL has shown interest by trying with chartered flight, he added.

"This is a good opportunity to attract Japanese tourists if JAL will resume flights to Bali. If the government is serious in making approaches to the Japanese government, JAL might reopen regular flights to Bali," he said.

The Indonesian government is set to make its tourism sector to rank among among the biggest foreign exchange earning sectors for the country. (WDY)