VOI - Voice of Indonesia | RRI - Radio Republik Indonesia

VOINews, Jakarta - Tourism and Creative Economy Minister Sandiaga Salahuddin Uno expressed optimism that Indonesia's international tourist arrivals would reach 10 million in 2023, surpassing the targeted figure of 8.5 million.

"We, at the Ministry of Tourism and Creative Economy, provide performance guidance to tourism and creative economy players. It (the target) has been revised twice, and now, the newest figure is 8.5 million," Uno noted at the 2023 Indonesia Retail Summit (IRS) event here on Tuesday.

To this end, the minister urged retail entrepreneurs to prepare themselves to be able to provide services and products to tourists.

Uno expects tourists to buy products from Indonesia's modern retailers.

According to the minister, the retail sector has a major contribution to the trips of domestic tourists, with 1.2 to 1.4 billion trips targeted in 2023.

To this end, he encouraged retailers to boost promotion by using social media, among others.

He noted that people's movements are highly influenced by retailers' promotions and events. Thus, household consumption, which is the biggest contributor to economic growth, could continue to be boosted.

"We recorded that there are three thousand events this year that could generate up to US$12 billion in terms of economic support," he stated.

On that occasion, the minister drew attention to the challenge of bad air quality in Jakarta that threatens the potential of Indonesia's shopping tourism. In fact, Jakarta is the second entry point after Bali for international tourists.

He affirmed that the government is committed to reducing air pollution in Jakarta. The step is taken to prevent the risks to health and the number of tourist arrivals and the economy.

"That is why for the short term, we will carry out weather modification. We will also fundamentally change our lifestyle, from previously all using fossil fuel cars, we direct (people) to electric fuel (vehicles)," he remarked.  (antaranews)