Tourism To Serve As Pillar Of National Economy: Bappenas

    Jakarta  (Antara Bali) - The National Development Planning Board (Bappenas) has said that the country's tourism sector will serve as the main pillar of national economy replacing the tax and energy sectors.

         "The shifting of the tourism development to the Asia Pacific region will help the tourism sector in the country to serve as the main pillar of our national development financing," Chief Planning Coordinator of the Bappenas I Dewa Gde Sugihamretha said here on Friday.

          He said that the  roles in development of oil and other fossil fuels are declining so that the country will rally on other sectors as a main income earner.

         The expectation of tourism taking over the roles of other sectors is in line with the United Nations World Tourism Organization's (UNWTO)'s prediction that the tourism industry will experience a high growth and become the engine of the world's social and economic development.

         Besides that with the government's agenda to strengthen the maritime axis sector, Sughhamretha said he was convinced that the island tourism industry could also thrive in the coming five to ten years.

         Last year, the government targeted to earn US$12 billion from the tourism industry. Some 11.21 million people (the target was to employ 8.74 million people) were directly or indirectly working in the industry, he pointed out.

         Last year, 9.3 million foreign tourists were received while the number of domestic tourists was 251 million.

         "The achievement in 2014 has become the foundation for doubling our tourism target by 2019," Arief Yahya observed.

         By 2019, Indonesia targets to see 20 million foreign tourists, 275 domestic tourist trips, 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.

         The government has also eased permit procedures for international yachters in order to boost the country's marine tourism industry.

         The Indonesian Government has planned to boost tourism promotion, provide visa-free facilities, and ease permits in a bid to attract more tourists in 2015, in order to help achieve US$12.05 billion in foreign exchange earnings from tourism by the end of this year.

        "We have targeted foreign exchange earnings worth US$12.05 billion from 10 million tourists expected to visit the country until late this year," Tourism Minister Arief Yahya remarked recently. (WDY)