Wonderful Indonesia Team Attends Int'l Tourism Festival in France
Jakarta. Indonesia has again spread its charm in Europe when it presented the Wonderful Indonesia brand at the International Tourism Festival in Angers, France, on June 15-17.
In response to a special invitation from Angers University, the Indonesian Ministry of Tourism was represented by Eka Moncarre of the Visit Indonesia Tourism Office.
"It is an honor for Indonesia. Usually the tourism office must pay to present its materials at the international tourism event, but this time, they invited the Visit Indonesia Tourism Office to their event. The French were interested and wanted to know more about Indonesia," I Gde Pitana, deputy for foreign tourism development at the Tourism Ministry, said in a statement on Wednesday (21/06).
The Indonesian team also presented several performances and activities during the festival, including a discussion forum with Indonesian university lecturers, traditional dances and gamelan shows, as well as a handicraft exhibition.
"There was also a conference on Indonesia, held for three days in Angers, located in the west of France, 1.5 hours of travel by speed train from Paris," Pitana said.
Eka added that his agency has used this excellent opportunity to attract as many French people as possible to visit Indonesia.
"One of the potential markets is students. Most of them do not have the funds, but they can work and save money to travel, usually for two months at a time," Eka said.
He said Indonesia is a perfect destination for the French as they love adventure and blending with the locals.
"They do not care about long-distance destinations, as they love to visit undeveloped tourism areas to embark on adventure. The student market has very strong potential, especially for Indonesia's homestay project," he said.
Tourism Minister Arief Yahya said France is among the top three European countries in terms of the number of tourists visiting Indonesia. He has successfully increased tourist visits by 20 percent to 250,921 last year from a year earlier.
Arief has set a target of 330,000 tourists from France this year.
"Hopefully, with the International Tourism Festival, the target will be achieved," the minister said.
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