Indonesia Yet To Become Main Destination of Chinese Imlek Travelers

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Indonesia Yet To Become Main Destination of Chinese Imlek Travelers

BEIJING ~

Indonesia is still not the main destination of Chinese holidaymakers celebrating Lunar New Year, locally known as Imlek, a Chinese official said.

According to the Chinese Administrative Office of Tourism estimates, 5.19 million Chinese traveled overseas during Imlek holidays this year.

Their most favored destinations have been South Korea, Hong Kong, Macau, Japan, Taiwan, Thailand, Maldives, and Singapore.

“Chinese New Year is identical to homebound traveling. But, over the past few years, many Chinese have preferred to travel overseas with their family members,” Wang Zhuli of Caissa Touristic travel bureau remarked.

Garuda Indonesia’s Deputy President for Chinese Region I Wayan Subagia noted Indonesia faces stiff competition from Thailand and Maldives for attracting Chinese tourists. “Indonesia has many attractions that are not less attractive than those in Thailand or Maldives. Therefore, we need to improve our tourism spots,” he added.

Garuda has started regular as well as charter flight services for Imlek holiday season to attract more Chinese tourists to Indonesia.

The tourism ministry has more homework to do as many Chinese people hardly know about Indonesia or Bali, he pointed out.

The Indonesian carrier has started charter flight service from 10 Chinese cities with Bali as the destination from January 29 to March 29, 2015.

China is a potential market for Indonesia. On an average, more than 100 million Chinese travel overseas every year.

While some one million Chinese tourists visited Indonesia last year, the country has set a target to double the number of Chinese visitors this year.

Disclaimer: While every effort has been made to ensure accuracy, this article may contain minor inaccuracies in names, locations, or event details. Readers are welcome to contact the editorial team for any clarification.

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1 Comment

  1. John says:
    February 27, 2015 at 5:51 am

    As much as we use to love Bali, for many foreigners, Bali has become a place to avoid. Why? Due to authorities inability to cope with large numbers of tourists in such a small and poorly resourced island.
    The results speak for themselves: dirty streets; very dangerous footpaths; pollution of land, water ways and beaches; Water shortages; Over supply of villas is destroying the very reasons we use to visit Bali. Ubud is a classic example: rice areas are being taken over by greedy foreigners who keep erecting more villas and so the natural and unique landscape that was once Bali is disappearing forever.
    Please slow the building programs; deal with your current problems of environmental destruction; Improve water supply so that locals and tourists do not get ill with ‘Bali Belly’. Surely these are all important issues for locals and tourists.
    If Bali wants to be a popular future tourist destination, then these issues need urgent attention.