Lunar New Year Predicted will Boost Tourists Visitation

Jakarta (Antara) - Minister of Tourism and Creative Economy Mari Elka Pangestu predicted that the momentum of Lunar Chinese New Year on January 31 will be able to boost tourist visitation during the early months of the year. "Every year, the people of China, Hongkong, Taiwan, Singapore and Malaysia follow a pattern of traveling to a number of tourism places in Indonesia, during the Lunar New Year," stated Mari Elka Pangestu in Jakarta on Monday. Mari pointed out that in some countries the Chinese New Year holiday plays a very important role and that their people have an average of up to a week long holiday. According to her, an indication of the movement of tourists to Indonesia is apparent from a number of airline reports that they are fully-booked until a week after the Lunar New Year. Hainan Air, for example, the newly opened route to Indonesia from Beijing, also reported that their seats are fully-booked. "The Lunar New Year is one of the peak seasons for several tourism centers such as in Batam, Bintan and Bali," she explained. Mari was optimistic that the number of tourist visitation in 2014 will range between 9.2 million and 9.4 million people despite the fact that the political year during the general election will not be an easy one. Last year, she had predicted that tourist visitation will exceed its target of 8.7 million people. (*)