indonesian tourism board.

From Borobudur Temple and Bali, to Komodo Island, Lake Toba and Raja Ampat, all of Indonesia’s most popular destinations are on display at the World Travel Market (WTM) London event held at ExCel London building, United Kingdom, on Nov. 6-8.

Meanwhile, the Indonesia's booth at the exhibition has been transformed into a replica of traditional phinisi boat.

“Phinisi [boat] is internationally recognized as Bugis sailors had traveled the world using the boat. They visited the entire continents of the world using phinisi. It truly represents the Indonesian identity, that’s why we always use this design at every international travel market events,” explained Tourism Ministry's deputy minister for overseas promotion I Gde Pitana..

The phinisi boat also boasts the image of Indonesia as the biggest archipelagic country in the world and it’s in line with President Joko Widodo’s vision of placing maritime in the top five priority development list.

Inside the booth that is located at AS900 Hall, there are 50 industry players who are ready to welcome WTM London visitors. The booth also has a big LED screen playing Wonderful Indonesia commercials, including the tourism video that recently won two awards at the UNWTO Video Competition 2017.

There’s also a presentation of Sumbanese traditional house called Uma Mbatangu (tower)   

“It’s a way to promote Nihiwatu Resort in Sumba Island to British tourists; the resort has been named the world’s best hotel for two years in a row by Travel+Leisure magazine,” told the ministry's deputy assistant for Europe, the United States, Middle East and Africa tourism promotion Nia Niscaya.

UK contributes the highest number of European travelers who come to Indonesia.

According to the ministry data, last year there were one million tourists from Europe who visited Indonesia, of which 328,882 were from UK. It was an increase of 21.9 percent from 2015 that welcomed 269,798 British tourists.

“Up until August this year, there were 244,638 tourists from the UK who traveled to Indonesia. Hopefully we can hit the 384,000 mark by the end of this year,” Nia added.

To achieve the target, the ministry is also doing promotions in other places apart from the WTM London event.

“We also conduct other promotional programs such as placing the Wonderful Indonesia logo on London taxis,” said Tourism Minister Arief Yahya. (kes)