Southeast Asia's largest economy to increases budget ceiling for tourism support

Speaking at a recent meeting with Commission VII of the Indonesian House of Representatives in Jakarta, Widiyanti said that the initial budget ceiling proposed for 2025 was 1.489 trillion Rp.

Indonesia, Southeast Asia's largest economy, welcomed over 10 million foreign tourists in the first nine months of this year, marking a 20% increase year-on-year, according to official data.

It eyes 14 million foreign arrivals by the end of this year.

Wardhana called the increase reasonable because the budget ceiling for 2025 is significantly lower compared to 3.182 trillion Rp in 2024.

She also outlined the four "Quick Wins" programmes that the Ministry of Tourism is carrying out.

The first is the intensification of the Proud of Traveling in Indonesia (BBWI) program, which includes campaigns, tourism package integration, transport cost efficiencies, and improvement of tourist destinations' competitiveness.

The second is Tourism 5.0: Marketing and Calendar of Events, which includes the digitalization of the Calendar of Events and the development of AI Travel Planner Assistance features, as well as organizing and supporting national and international events.

The third is making airfares affordable, and the fourth is improving the quality of human resources and business players.

In this regard, she affirmed that her ministry is continuing to collaborate with relevant ministries and agencies.

Quality improvement is also being encouraged through the tourism sectoral committee, revitalization of vocational education and vocational training, as well as empowerment of communities in tourism villages, the official said.