Indonesia Ranked 70th in Global Tourism Competitiveness Index

Jakarta (Antara) - Indonesia is ranked 70th or up four places compared to the 2011 edition in the Global Travel and Tourism Competitiveness Report 2013, which was released by the World Economic Forum. "Indonesia is ranked 70th or up four places from its 74th rank in 2011," Tourism and Creative Economic Minister Mari Elka Pangestu stated while speaking in the KOMPeK talk show titled "Strengthening Domestic Trade to Engage in 2015 Asean Economic Community" here on Monday. Despite an improvement in its ranking, Indonesia is still lagging behind its neighboring countries, she pointed out. Singapore is ranked 10th, Malaysia 34th, and Thailand 43rd as their infrastructure is better than that of Indonesia. "Indonesia fares better in terms of natural resources, placing the country in the sixth rank and in terms of the price for value, which places the country in the ninth rank," she added. The number of foreign tourists visiting Indonesia in 2013 reached 8.8 million or an increase of 9.2 percent from that recorded in the previous year. It received foreign exchange amounting to US$10.05 billion, which is up 10.23 percent from that in 2012. In 2013, 248 million domestic tourists spent Rp154.7 trillion, which was double the amount spent by foreign tourists. "In 2013, the tourism sector contributed Rp347.35 trillion to the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) or around 3.8 percent of the country's total GDP," the minister stated. The tourism sector provided jobs for 10.8 million people or 8.89 percent of the total national manpower. (*)