Indonesia planning to attract Middle Eastern tourists to Bali

Indonesia planning to attract Middle Eastern tourists to Bali

JAKARTA: Indonesia’s officials and travel industry players have set their sights on visitors from the Middle East, with efforts underway to attract more arrivals from the region. The country, which closed its borders to international tourists for almost two years to curb the spread of COVID-19, has already scrapped most travel restrictions and allowed quarantine-free entry for fully vaccinated travelers. As foreign tourists slowly make their way back to the Southeast Asian archipelago nation — with more than 345,000 international visitors in June according to Ministry of Tourism and Creative Economy data — officials are working to attract more tourists. From the Middle East, over 263,000 tourists arrived in Indonesia in 2019, before the pandemic, contributing more than $369 million in foreign currency inflows. Husin Bagis, Indonesia’s ambassador to the UAE, told Arab News that he has set an ambitious target for 2023. “Hopefully next year, my target is to attract 100,000 tourists from the UAE,” Bagis said, adding that the Indonesian embassy in Abu Dhabi has been working around the clock to achieve this. “We have been all-out with our efforts,” Bagis said. “If you hold a UAE passport, you can get a visa on arrival, there’s no issue.”