VOI - Voice of Indonesia | RRI - Radio Republik Indonesia

The economy in Riau Islands Province (Riau Islands) has increased thanks to the positive movement of foreign tourists (tourists) who visit the province directly adjacent to Singapore.
The Ministry of Tourism's Deputy Marketing Development I, Rizki Handayani, in Jakarta, Monday (03/06/2019) said the economic prospects of the Riau Islands were comparable to the positive visits of foreign tourists.

"Based on Bank Indonesia Riau Islands report, Riau economic growth in the second quarter of 2019 was reported to be very positive," he said.

Exactly tourism in Riau Islands grows between 4.9 percent to 5.3 percent year on year (yoy). The inflation movement is estimated to be at the rate of 3.5 percent to 1 percent (yoy). The price stability remains in the national corridor.

During January-March 2019, visiting tourists experienced an increase of up to 12.57 percent. The real number is 672,177 people. In the same period of the previous year, the movement of foreign tourists ranged from 597,107 people.

"Tourism in Riau Islands continues to grow. There are many values ​​obtained from this activity, especially the economy. The tourism industry and the wider community get good economic access there. We are optimistic that the overall movement will improve in the following month, "Rizki said.
Deputy Deputy of Regional I Marketing Development I of the Ministry of Tourism Dessy Ruhati added that the optimization of the movement of foreign tourists was seen from the 4 entrances in Riau Islands.

Tourists who enter through Batam are 69.54 percent. Or around 460,710 foreign tourists. Whereas through Bintan it reached 21.23 percent with a movement of 142,671 foreign tourists. Tourists who come through Tanjungpinang amount to 5.67 percent or 38,104 foreign tourists, then 4.57 percent (30,692) enter from Karimun.

"The movement of foreign tourists has a positive impact. Its presence also drives the economy in Riau Islands. They make transactions to buy culinary, various souvenirs, as well as others. There are many economic benefits enjoyed by the Riau Islands people, "said Dessy Ruhati.

The surge in movement of foreign tourists in Riau Islands is dominated by Singaporean tourists. During the first quarter of 2019, Singaporean tourist arrivals reached 310,367 people. Malaysia followed with 69,852 people and China with 68,446 people.

"Various efforts were made to keep the movement of foreign tourists positive in Riau Islands. The movement of Singapore tourists is indeed very good. However, other countries still have the same potential. For that big branding is given evenly. We believe that the movement of foreign tourists outside the top 3 of the Riau Islands will be optimal until the end of the year, "said Dessy.
Riau Islands has been considered an exotic destination for foreign tourists. Because, nature, culture and "manmade" in Riau Islands are very extraordinary. Deals from culinary tours and shopping are also tempting. With these various combinations, the hotel occupancy rate is in the range of 49-50 percent. The length of stay of foreign tourists reaches 1.92 days. (kemenpar)

Tongging Village in Merek District, Karo Regency, North Sumatra, which is located in the Lake Toba area, was developed as a culinary and shopping destination.
Virginia Kadarsan Ministry of Tourism and Shopping Acceleration Development Team during the Focus Group Discussion (FGD) Understanding of Culinary Tourism and Shopping Development held a week ago on Brastagi, North Sumatra, said there were many advantages if culinary and shopping tourism was developed faster in the Lake Toba Region.

"Because, there is a big business value that can be obtained from there. These two types of tours are very competitive to bring in a large income, "Virginia said.

Tongging village is located about 1 hour from Brastagi and sticks directly to Lake Toba against the background of Mount Sipiso-Piso. Here also found Sipiso-Piso Waterfall. Its position is at an elevation of 800 meters above sea level, then has a height of 120 meters.

Another activity is trekking in the viewing post area. This area is very interesting with a winding route.

Virginia added, the follow-up to the development of culinary tourism and shopping will have a positive impact on Lake Toba.

Virginia also explained the need to intervene stakeholders around the Lake Toba area to realize it, starting from the Lake Toba Authority Implementing Agency (BPODT) to the community and tourism industry players.
"Strong commitment from all stakeholders has been obtained. BPODT finally agreed to use Tongging as its initial project. Tongging will be used as the initial identification and development of Wiskulja. In addition to its position, this region has great potential, "he said.

Separately, Oneng Setya Harini, Assistant Deputy for the Development of Kemenpar Culture Tourism, added culinary tourism and shopping became a big income for the development of the creative economy. In 2017, culinary provides income of up to 41.69 percent.

While tourism shopping contributed up to 33.85 percent. Interestingly, creative economic growth rose 4.95 percent in 2016. Its distribution to National GDP was 7.39 percent to 7.44 percent in the range 2014-2016.

"The acceleration of Wiskulja development in the Lake Toba area must be done. The hope, of course, is that this destination will be more optimal in providing economic value. The potential can be distributed optimally, "he said.

While heading to the next stage, understanding the Wiskulja concept must be held by tourism stakeholders in Karo and North Sumatra. According to Oneng, the concept of gastronomic development in Indonesia is influenced by 3 elements. These triangles are culinary, cultural and historical. Its derivative factors consist of rituals, spices, and storytelling. (kemenpar) 

President Joko Widodo and First Lady Iriana Joko Widodo will hold the Idul Fitri 1440 Hijriah Open House at the State Palace in Jakarta on Wednesday, 5 June 2019, which coincides with 1 Shawwal 1440 Hijri.

This gathering with the community will start at 09.30 WIB until 11.00 WIB.

For people who will attend this gathering, they are welcome to enter through the gathering point on Jalan Silang Monas Barat Laut, Jakarta.

In addition, while waiting for the queue to shake hands with the Head of State, the community will wait in the tents provided. In each of the tents, snacks and drinks have been prepared for the community.

For mutual convenience, guests who were present at the gathering were not allowed to carry bags and cellphones.

Before staying in touch with the community, the President will first be in charge of the vice president with Vice President Jusuf Kalla and Mrs. Mufidah Jusuf Kalla, Chairmen of State Institutions, Working Cabinet ministers, ambassadors of friendly countries, other state officials at 09.00 WIB until 09:30 WIB. (kemensetkab)

Business conditions faced by Indonesia's manufacturing industry continued to improve in the middle of the second quarter of 2019. The driver of the increase was stronger expansion in output and growth in new demand.

This was reflected in the Indonesian manufacturing Purchasing Managers' Index ™ (PMI ™) data released by the Nikkei which showed that Indonesia's manufacturing PMI in May this year was 51.6, up from the previous month at 50.4.

The PMI points above the 50 mark indicate that the manufacturing sector is expanding. The achievements in May 2019 are the highest since August 2018. In the period of May, the confidence of Indonesian manufacturers continued to surge, companies also increased the number of workers, and increased purchasing activities.

"We see, manufacturing industry players are still optimistic about expanding or increasing investment. This is supported by stable and conducive political, economic and security conditions in Indonesia, especially after yesterday's election, "said Minister of Industry Airlangga Hartarto in Jakarta, Sunday (2/6).

The Minister of Industry is optimistic, the performance of the manufacturing industry is increasingly stretching. "Moreover, the transportation infrastructure is increasing rapidly with the connectivity of the eastern and western regions of Java, as well as several regions that are feeders and hubs in Indonesia," he explained.

Then, another potential is the experience of industrialization in Indonesia which is more than 30 years so that it has a pool of talent for the leading sector. "In order to boost industrial performance, the government also prioritizes vocational education and polytechnics by introducing a link and match system to reform the curriculum," he added.

In order to spur investment in the industrial sector, the Ministry of Industry also facilitated a number of polytechnic developments in industrial estates. This strategic step is to create competent human resources (HR) that meet the needs of today's industry. "We have built a polytechnic, including in the Cilegon, Morowali and Kendal industrial areas," said the Minister of Industry.

Furthermore, the Ministry of Industry has proposed the provision of fiscal incentives in the form of super deductible tax for industries that actively carry out research and development activities to generate innovation and industries involved in vocational education and training programs. This fiscal incentive is believed to be able to attract investors in the industrial sector while boosting its competitiveness.

Responding to data from the Indonesian PMI Manufacturing survey in May 2019, IHS Markit Chief Economist Bernard Aw said that Indonesia's manufacturing sector growth in May was a momentum to gather optimism towards the second quarter of this year. "The increasingly strong demand conditions have pushed the company to continue to increase production in the coming months," he explained.

This continued increase, according to him, will also increase confidence among manufacturing industries in Indonesia. "We see, the future output index, a benchmark for business expectations, jumped to its highest position for more than two years, becoming the highest monthly increase (15.6 points) recorded in the survey history," he explained.

Pegatron investment

The Minister of Industry added, one of the manufacturing sectors that is increasingly aggressive in investing in Indonesia, namely the electronics industry. For example, an electronics company from Taiwan, Pegatron cooperates with the national electronics industry in Batam to produce wifi components and equipment that have been exported to the United States.

"They said that they would increase the number of their production and produce other electronic products in a cooperative capacity with Satnusa. In addition, they are also looking for new investment locations. Besides in Batam, they also consider East Java, "said Minister of Industry.

In addition, Airlangga said, there were several industries from China that would relocate their factories to Southeast Asia, including Indonesia, which was the main destination. "There are textile, garment and footwear companies that are looking at new locations in Indonesia. Besides that, there are also chemical and biochemical industries and the automotive industry, "he said.

These sectors are industries that are getting priority development by the Indonesian government to be more competitive globally, because they are export-oriented, labor intensive, and become import substitutions. Based on the map of Making Indonesia 4.0, these industries will also be a pioneer sector in implementing 4.0 industry in the country.

"At present it shows intense competition between Asian countries which are competing to benefit from the US-China trade war by making their countries attractive to foreign investment," he said.

Director of Industrial Area Directorate General of Resilience, Regional and International Industrial Access (KPAII) Ministry of Industry (kemenperin)