VOI - Voice of Indonesia | RRI - Radio Republik Indonesia

The Indonesian Embassy in Madrid participated again in  the annual international tourism exhibition ” Feria Internacional de Turismo “  (FITUR) at IFEMA Madrid on  24-28 January 2024. As quoted by  a statement from the Indonesian Embassy in Madrid, Indonesia's participation in FITUR 2024 is an effort to take advantage of the recovering interest of the Spanish people in traveling abroad as well as the recovery of the Indonesian tourism sector after the COVID-19 pandemic. Moreover, the Indonesian Embassy in Madrid also took advantage of the momentum of Indonesia's election as a member of the Executive Council of the United Nations World Tourism Organization (UNWTO), representing the regional commission for East Asia and the Pacific for the period 2023-2027.

After the success of Indonesia's participation last year, the Indonesian Embassy in Madrid expressed its optimism that FITUR 2024 will open up greater opportunities to attract Spanish tourists to Indonesia. To market the wide choice of Indonesian destinations, the Indonesian Embassy in Madrid is collaborating with 10 tour operators and local tourism sector entrepreneurs. This tour operator has the opportunity to directly offer travel packages as well as the opportunity to establish contacts and work together in organizing groups of tourists on holiday to Indonesia, including 10 priority Indonesian destinations.

Furthermore, Indonesia's participation is carried out by using a government-private partnership scheme. This time,  the Indonesia's participation received good support from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Ministry of Trade, as well as a number of leading brands. What is unique about the Indonesian pavilion this year is the presentation of a Coffee Bar which presents premium Indonesian coffee and Spanish models dressed in traditional Indonesian clothes. It is hoped that these tips will be supported by an integrated commitment from the Indonesian government and private sector to attract and increase visits by Spanish citizens and those who speak Spanish for holidays in Indonesia. FITUR is the most important tourism exhibition for the Ibero-American market, namely the Central and South American market which has historical proximity to Spain and Portugal. Along with the Mobile World Congress (MWC) which is held every end of February in Barcelona, FITUR which is held every January in Madrid is the largest international annual exhibition in Spain and the second largest in Europe.

As many as  8,500 companies and 131 countries have participated in FITUR 2023 which holds eight pavilions with a total exhibition area of 66,900 square meters.  In 2023, FITUR was visited by more than 222,000 individuals consisting of 136,000 professionals and 86,000 general people. FITUR last year also had an economic impact of 400 million euros profits for the city of Madrid. As in previous years, FITUR 2024 is divided into two sessions. FITUR for business actors in the tourism sector was opened on January 24-26, while FITUR for the general public was opened on January 27-28.//

The national airline Garuda Indonesia, in collaboration with the Embassy of the Republic of Indonesia, held the Garuda Indonesia Travel Fair 2024 for the Japanese region, last Thursday 25 January. Garuda Indonesia’s Tokyo Deputy General Manager Carina Megarani in Tokyo, Thursday (25/1) said that the online event aims to increase demand for both Japanese and Indonesian citizens to travel to Indonesia.

The exhibition was held to coincide with the 75th anniversary of Garuda Indonesia. Garuda Indonesia Travel Fair 2024 started on January 15 by accessing travel agents selected by the airline. The event was attended by more than 70 travel agents, tour operators, media and other Japanese tourism industry players.

Coordinator of the Information, Social and Cultural Functions of the Indonesian Embassy in Tokyo, Meinarti Fauzie, explained that the event aims to strengthen Indonesia's image as a tourist destination of choice for Japanese citizens. According to Meinarti, Indonesia, with its stunning natural landscapes, rich cultural heritage and warm hospitality, has always been one of the destinations of choice for foreign tourists. It is hoped that this Travel Fair can become a forum for travel agents, tour operators and prospective Japanese tourists to know more and strengthen the interest of tourist to visit Indonesia.

The tourist destinations promoted are super priority destinations, including Borobudur Temple in Central Java, Labuan Bajo in East Nusa Tenggara, Lake Toba in North Sumatra, Mandalika in West Nusa Tenggara and Likupang in North Sulawesi. During the event, it was also announced Garuda's flight routes, namely Narita-Denpasar which operates every day and Haneda-Jakarta four times a week, as well as potential cooperation for super priority tourism. The activity was enlivened by performances of traditional Indonesian arts, the Cendrawasih Dance from Bali and the Tortor Batak Dance by the Nusantara Indonesia group.

Sangkulirang Mangkalihat Karst is located in East Kalimantan, precisely in East Kutai Regency. Like the karst area, the Sangkulirang Mangkalihat location is also surrounded by steep walls, underground caves with exotic natural carvings, and green hills. The beauty of this giant karst group stretches from East Kutai Regency to Berau Regency. 

The Sangkulirang Mangkalihat area has an area of 1.8 million hectares. According to the results of research, this karst area provides information about traces of ancient humans which can be seen from hand paintings, pictures of boats, and paintings of various types of animals that are clearly depicted on the walls of the cave. It is said that traces of this ancient human existed around 10,000 years BC. Bones, crocks made of clay, and tools made of stone were also found here. It is also estimated that the spread of early Austronesian humans began in the Sangkulirang karst mountains. This means that the Sangkulirang Mangkalihat Karst is the starting point for the emergence of ancient humans in Indonesia. 

In this place there are valuable sites, such as for palaeontology, archaeology, fossil sites, geological-mineral structures, lithology, as well as a variety of endemic flora and fauna. The existence of caves, underwater rivers, limestone reserves and cement materials are quite abundant so they are very suitable as natural tourism spots. With these natural tourism spots, visitors can carry out activities such as hiking, rock climbing, cave exploring, flora and fauna exploration, or exploration of ancient human remains when visiting this tourist spot. 

East Kutai Regency can be reached for 4 – 5 hours by road from Samarinda City by four-wheeled vehicle. You can also rent a car at a rental place for around IDR 400,000 – IDR 500,000. After arriving in East Kutai Regency, the journey continues to Sangkulirang District. Even though this natural tourist attraction has been recognized by the world, this tourist destination is still considered very natural. There are only a few facilities provided, for example at the Tewet Post which was deliberately built as a resting place for visitors. 

Indonesian Ambassador to Moldova, Meidyatama Suryodiningrat, said bilateral relations between Indonesia and the Republic of Moldova, which have been running for three decades, need to be improved. Increasing cooperation in the fields of economics, social, culture, education and the protection of Indonesian citizens were topics discussed in a meeting with the President of the Republic of Moldova Maia Sandu, which took place after the ceremony of handing over Letters of Credence at the Presidential Palace on Tuesday (23 /1/2024).

Moldova's support for Indonesia in the Human Rights Council for the period 2024 – 2026 as well as members of the UNESCO Executive Board for the period 2023 – 2027 and Indonesia's support for Moldova in the nomination for the Human Rights Council for the period 2027 – 2029, emphasize the importance of bilateral relations between the two countries.
Both parties agreed to increase economic cooperation, especially two-way trade. In this regard, it is very important to restore Indonesia's trade trend to a surplus, so that there is a balanced trade balance.

In the last two years, the trade balance between Indonesia and Moldova has still shown a negative trend with a deficit on the Indonesian side.
For Indonesia, Moldova is a partner in the Eastern European region which can be an alternative partner for exporting Indonesia's superior commodities, including palm oil. The Indonesian Ambassador hopes for Moldova's support regarding the continued down streaming of Indonesia's superior export commodities, which can contribute to achieving a positive trade balance for Indonesia.

The Indonesian Ambassador also emphasized the need to increase cooperation in the tourism sector. Diversification of tourism destinations in Indonesia needs to be promoted intensively, so that Moldovan citizens do not only visit Bali. For this reason, in 2024, various tourism and cultural promotion activities will be carried out in Moldova to increase awareness about Indonesia and to open up opportunities for cooperation between tour operators and travel agents from the two countries.

In the field of education and culture, the Indonesian government provides scholarships to Moldovan citizens consistently to introduce Indonesia from an academic and social perspective. The Indonesian Ambassador's mission is to increase the number of scholarships for Moldovan students and explore opportunities for collaboration between universities in the two countries for joint research and student exchanges to increase people-to-people contact.
Regarding the protection of Indonesian citizens, the Ambassador paid attention to Indonesian citizens living in Moldova. Until now, though not many, all Indonesian citizens live well in Moldova.