The tourism sector significantly contributes to Jakarta’s revenue. There has been a positive trend with an increased arrival of tourists, both national and international. Even so, Jakarta’s government needs to understand that there are many locations within the city that are in need of improvement to attract more tourists.
Photo by Raditya Fadilla/NOW!JAKARTA
The Head of the Office of Tourism and Culture, DKI Jakarta, Tinia Budiati talked to NOW! Jakarta about plans to improve tourism.
What are the areas of focus regarding tourism and cultural development of Jakarta?
To be honest, at the moment there is nothing extraordinary taking place; the city is developing very well. Our cooperation with some sectors has been going well. For instance, transportation. This is part of the city’s development of facilities to support tourism and overcome congestion. With alternative transport systems such as LRT, MRT, toll roads, underpasses and flyovers, tourists are more wiling to explore Jakarta.
Then, also some sectors in Jakarta’s Government Province. The Forestry, Agriculture and Food Security Department is now starting to concern how the environment can be nature tourism alternatives and in line with Environment Department, they focus on sustainability development by keeping up to clean the tourism places include reducing plastic trash and pollution. The conditions which back to nature is to maintain the quality of life people who live in Jakarta and as one of factors to force tourist come to Jakarta.
We would like to improve infrastructure, but now we are occupied with increasing people’s mobility, ease congestion, raising awareness of improving the quality of life, and, together with other big cities across the globe, to pay attention to matters related to maintaining the environment.
What are some of Jakarta’s strengths as a destination?
Jakarta is service-oriented city and is a centre of creativity. Other cities, like Yogyakarta and Bandung are also creative, but the all the financiers and buyers are here. They have ideas, but when the ideas go to the market they all end up in Jakarta. The demand for creativity is high in Jakarta and so is the purchasing power.
And Jakarta is good for MICE, we always prioritise that kind of tourism. But as we all know, other MICE destinations in Indonesia, such as Bali, West Java and Banten, have already overtaken Jakarta and can develop facilities and infrastructure at a large scale, like airports and new, big buildings while Jakarta cannot anymore. But we keep improving services. What we can do is optimise what we have—facilities and infrastructure.
Any there any new strategies planned in order to develop new attractions in or around Jakarta?
We try to explore other potential spots like Kepulauan Seribu (Thousand Islands) in order for the islands to be among world’s top destination. And we’re also reviving urban forests and the Betawi cultural village Setu Babakan with new facilities to meet tourist demand.
How do you see the power of millennials, given that they’re seen as trendsetters in the tourism market?
Well, now there’s a shift in the way people travel. Where once people stayed and dined in five-star hotels, these days the young generation and the millennials tend to look for different places, they look for homestays and buy cheap tour packages. We must anticipate these changes in order to ensure they are not disappointed when they come here.
Millennials are more the adventurous and exploring type. They like nature and remote areas, that’s why the branding of Wonderful Indonesia is more toward nature in order to grab more tourists especially in that generation. The Ministry of Tourism also revived the traditional market, forests and fields because one of Indonesia’s strengths is nature. Besides that, they really like to try new places and are more “narcissistic,” that’s why we prepare special spots in our destinations for them to take selfies. We have also installed wireless internet so they can post their pictures on their social media accounts.
Most millennials are from small families who only have one or two siblings and they tend to gather with their communities. To accommodate their need for hangout places, now we have many cafes, restaurants or other nightlife and gathering spots for them to interact.
Are there any special plans in connection with the Asian Games?
Our target is to help make the event a success. We’re preparing the dancers that are needed by the organising committee (INASGOC) and we’re encouraging hotels and restaurants to create promotion programmes during the event. We will also give participants free entry to the museums, heritage sites and historical buildings and art performance places, such as Wayang Orang (human puppet) Bharata in Senen and Miss Tjitjih in Gedung Kesenian Jakarta.
And we bring a group of dancers and artists to public spaces during the event, so the participants who are unable to visit these spots can still see a show. And we will provide guides and also Abang None Jakarta as Ambassador. In early July we will hold the Jakarnaval with the theme “Success at the Asian Games.”
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This article is originally from paper. Read NOW!Jakarta Magazine June 2018 issue “City of the Future?”. Available at selected bookstore or SUBSCRIBE here.
