Jakarta. The Ministry of Tourism is using the momentum created by former United States President Barack Obama's recent visit to Indonesia to hold sales missions in New York and Boston on July 25 and July 27, respectively.

"Our calculation includes the peak of US tourists to Indonesia, especially during the winter holiday in December," I Gde Pitana, deputy for foreign marketing development at the ministry, said in a statement on Wednesday (19/07).

"They are usually heading to warmer countries, including the Southeast Asia region. Coincidentally, the momentum of Barack Obama's endorsement is still present, and we will take this opportunity," he added.

The sales missions will take place at the Indonesian Consulate General in New York and at the Fairmont Copley Plaza Hotel in Boston.

The United States is one of 10 main markets for Indonesian tourism, which showed an increase of 251,221 visitors in 2015.

The target for the US market was 310,000 last year, while Indonesia expects to attract 361,000 American tourists this year.

"Why those two cities? The US East Coast area has the second largest connection to Indonesia, after Los Angeles in California. We will continue targeting them to attract more tourists," said Nia Percaya, assistant deputy for US market development at the ministry.

She added that the ministry will include eight industry players from Bali, Jakarta and Samarinda in East Kalimantan for business-to-business meetings to introduce and sell Indonesian tourism products and destinations.

The companies are Panorama Destination, Voyage 2 Paradise, Travel Registry Inc., Doyantravel, CNT Travel, Bali Flores Adventure, Trans Borneo Adventure Tours & Travel and Hanging Gardens of Bali.

"We are also assisted by the Indonesian Consulate General in New York and partnering with Emirates Airlines," she said.

The ministry will also highlight the destinations visited by Obama to buyers, as well as a co-promotion with Emirates Airlines, which will be in the form of advertisements in its inflight magazine.