Tag Archives: Consulate General of the Republic of Indonesia

The Consulate General of the Republic of Indonesia, Mumbai successfully concluded its annual mission titled ‘Expo Indonesia 2017’ in Mumbai. The three-day exhibition is being organised with the aim to promote Indonesian trade, tourism and investment and promotes opportunities in Indonesian in these sectors. The event saw participation of 47 Indonesian companies who displayed a wide range of Indonesian products. The delegation also included Indonesian travel and tour operators as well as Indonesian airlines who met with the Indian trade to promote Indonesian tourism product. It was attended by Saut Siringoringo, Consul General of the Republic of Indonesia, Mumbai, Jaykumar Rawal, Hon’ble Minister for Tourism, Government of Maharashtra, Officials from the Embassy of the Republic of Indonesia, New Delhi, official from the Indonesian Investment Coordinating Board (BKPM), Indian Trade & Tourism associations, leading Indian business entrepreneurs, travel and tourism industry from India and Indonesian companies investing in India along with the exhibitors.    

Since the last two years, Indonesia recorded a growing number of Indian travellers. Data shows that in 2014 there were 237,990 visits to Indonesia which increased to 336,575 by the end of November 2016. Andriyatna Rubenta, Deputy Director of Sales Mission for Asia Pacific, Ministry of Tourism Republic of Indonesia, said, “The India market is booming and therefore a steady promotional effort is a logical step to keep the trend growing. Thus, it is relevant that the Ministry set a high target for Indian market of 546,000 visits by the end of 2017 or increasing 56 per cent from last year’s target of 350,000.” He was leading a sales mission to India organised jointly by the Ministry of Tourism Republic of Indonesia and the Consulate General of The Republic of Indonesia in Mumbai. “India is currently the sixth source market for foreign tourist arrivals and the numbers have been steadily growing. Especially now with Garuda Indonesia connecting Jakarta and Mumbai, we are optimistic about this year’s progress,” he said. He informed that they are looking at initiating additional air routes to connect more Indian cities since the response to the commencement of the Garuda flight has been strong. The leisure segment was the strongest in 2016, followed by MICE and a strong demand for weddings as well.

The Consulate General of the Republic of Indonesia in Mumbai organised a two-day expo in the city that brought a huge delegation of Indonesian sellers from various industries together under one roof.  ‘Expo Indonesia 2016’ saw 35 companies participate from industries like travel and tourism, furniture, handicrafts and food. Also participating in the expo was Garuda Indonesia which has announced a direct flight between Mumbai and Indonesia sometime in December 2016, making it the first direct flight to Indonesia. It is considering Bali and Jakarta for this connection. The airline is still working on the schedule and will be loaded in the GDS for sale soon. The Consul General added that they are pushing for more cities between the two countries: Bali – Mumbai, Jakarta – New Delhi  and Chennai – Medan.  On the sidelines of the expo was a seminar dedicated to tourism. Saut Siringoringo, Consul General, Consulate General of the Republic of Indonesia, said, “We want to do everything to push relations between the two countries. Indonesia has huge potential in the India market. The achievement of 16 billion USD in trade value between India and Indonesia is no small achievement. We can see this growth even in tourist arrivals from India which grew 68 per cent last year with 2,70,000 Indian tourists visiting Indonesia. This year we expect 3,50,000 – 4,00,000 Indian arrivals into Indonesia.”

Indonesia is keen on increasing flight frequency to India and is in talks with AirAsia and Garuda Indoensia for the same. Saut Siringoringo, Consul General, Consulate General of the Republic of Indonesia, revealed that Indonesia expects to have good connectivity to India and will soon be operating direct flights from India. It has been in discussions with various airlines for increasing flights to India. He said, “The Ministry of Tourism will probably appoint AirAsia for direct flights to India, but there is a possibility of other airlines as well, like Garuda Indonesia.” He added that the Indonesian Minister of Transportation attended the ‘Make In India Week’ in Mumbai and analysed the prospects of direct connectivity. Indonesia recently held its own two-city roadshow in Chennai and Mumbai in mid-February. He says, “We have a lot of travel agents from Indonesia participating in the roadshow besides the Indian travel agents. The Ministry of Tourism came from Jakarta to showcase Indonesia in India for this. We chose Chennai because Medan, which is the capital of North Sumatra, has a town named Madras where people of Indian origin reside so there is a deep link between these cities. Many people from Tamil Nadu or Karnataka fly to Medan for this reason. This is why Chennai is important as a market. We also have our Indonesian Travel Provision Centre (ITPC) there along with our Honorary Consulate in Chennai.”