Bali and Beyond Travel Fair Set to Become Global Marketplace
Jakarta. The annual Bali and Beyond Travel Fair, or BBTF, is set to return for its fifth edition at Bali Nusa Dua Convention Center from June 27 to June 30. This year, the travel fair will not only promote Indonesian destinations, but also be a marketplace for other countries.
Organized by the Bali chapter of the Association of the Indonesian Tours and Travel Agencies (Asita), BBTF is a business-to-business event for local travel industry players to sell travel packages to foreign buyers.
Buyers include travel wholesalers, retailers, agents, conventions and incentive organizers.
The Tourism Ministry, BBTF's main sponsor, has been working to turn the event into a marketplace with more sellers from overseas, but South Korea Tourism Organization was the sole foreign seller in BBTF 2017.
Tourism Minister Arief Yahya said during last year’s fair he wanted BBTF to be "a global marketplace" on par with the ITB Berlin show in Germany.
This year, more countries have confirmed they will be attending the event, including Vietnam, United Arab Emirates (UAE), Bhutan, Myanmar, Cambodia and Thailand.
"Thailand even booked a pavilion because they are bringing 10 industry players," BBTF chairman Ketut Ardana told the Jakarta Globe on Thursday (22/03) during a media visit.
He said foreign sellers should be welcomed at BBTF, and that the Indonesians do not need to worry about competing with them.
Ketut said BBTF 2018 will be attended by a total of 275 buyers and 225 sellers from 40 countries.
BBTF is also sticking to its main mission to market local destinations and help the Tourism Ministry to achieve its target of attracting 20 million foreign visitors in 2018.
This year’s fair will set aside a pavilion to promote the ministry’s 10 top priority destinations, dubbed as the "10 New Balis."
There will also be a post-event tour to show the potentials of nearby tourist destinations Banyuwangi (East Java), Kupang and Lembata (East Nusa Tenggara) and Tana Toraja (South Sulawesi).
The 2017 fair recorded a Rp 5.6 trillion ($408.8) turnover from 174 sellers and 198 domestic and foreign buyers. Ketut said this year they expect the number to reach Rp 7.8 trillion.
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