DENPASAR ~

The government of President-elect Joko Widodo should appoint the right person with requisite skills to take charge of the Tourism Ministry, stated Bali tourism observer Ida Bagus Surakusuma.

Ida remarked here on Thursday that the minister of tourism for the government of Joko Widodo, better known as Jokowi, and Jusuf Kalla (Jokowi-JK government) should be the right person who has mastery in technical and non-technical matters in order to boost foreign tourist arrivals by two folds in the next five years.

“The tourism minister in the Jokowi-JK government should have the capability to improve the performance of the tourism industry since it is not an easy task to increase the number of tourist arrivals from 10 million to 20 million in five years,” noted Surakusuma, the director of PT Pacific World Nusantara, in Denpasar.

The Jokowi-JK government plans to double the number of tourist arrivals in the next five years from 10 million to 20 million or an average annual increase of 20 percent.

He emphasized that the tourism minister must be a professional and experienced person who is able to judge the tourism potential of each region in Indonesia.

He pointed out that such a minister must be able to work on promoting the country’s tourism potential in markets abroad and drawing foreign tourists to visit Indonesia.

“This is important because due to the lack of supporting facilities and infrastructure, not many regions in Indonesia are ready to welcome foreign tourists,” stated Surakusuma, better known as Gus Lolec.

Therefore, he was of the viewpoint that the tourism minister should have adequate promotional funds to enable him or her to make a strategic breakthrough in the global tourism industry.

According to him, promotional efforts abroad must also be supported by professionals who are able to lure foreign tourists to visit Indonesia.

“Competition among countries in attracting tourist arrivals is very tight, so the minister of tourism should make a strategic breakthrough and work hard to increase the number of tourist visits,” he added.