Roundup: Indonesia to develop nomadic tourism

by Abu Hanifah

JAKARTA, March 26 (Xinhua) -- The Indonesian government planned to further enhance its tourism service sector by developing nomadic tourism, which would be coupled with digital tourism.

The plan to develop simple and fast moving tourism was outlined in the recent annual national workshop meeting of Indonesian tourism stakeholders held in Bali.

To address the aim, Indonesia needs to provide simpler and quicker transport vehicles to ensure foreign travelers to reach the destinations quickly without hassle.

"Foreign wanderers do not want complicated procedures to travel from one to another point in an archipelago country like Indonesia. They like simple access. There has to be more addition of simple vehicles like seaplanes, helicopters and speedboats," Nomadic Tourism program planner of the Indonesian Tourism Ministry Waizly Darwin said in the workshop.

He added that besides the vehicles, related tourism institutions should also provide proper accommodations suited with the fast-moving foreign travelers in the destinations.

Darwin said the accommodations should be highly-memorable, leaving good impression for the travelers that would eventually make them come back again in the future.

Among the accommodations considered fit for the travelers in nomadic tourism were camping ground, caravans and home pods, he added.

"Foreign travelers like good surprises. We have to be able to develop new sensations for them. With myriads of traditional attractions, Indonesia has great potential in this tourism genre," Darwin said.

He added that Indonesia has projected 4 destinations to accommodate nomadic tourism, including Labuan Bajo and Mandalika in eastern region, Lake Toba in North Sumatra province and Borobudur Temple in Central Java province.

Adding Indonesia's high potentialities to receive nomadic travelers, Darwin said that Bali's Canggu, Ubud and Denpasar have ranked among ten most recommended places on earth by nomadiclist.com, a website that reviews places for nomadic tour.

According to him, the world's nomadic travelers were estimated to reach 39.7 million, divided into subgroups of digital nomads, millennial nomads and luxurious nomads.

Indonesian Tourism Minister Arief Yahya predicted that nomadic tourism trend would surge in the future along with rapid digital technology and social media development.

"Departed as a temporary solution for budget travelers, nomadic tourism has been developed into a highly potential tourism business. It deserves a permanent solution for our tourism sector. All we need is to improve the accessibility and accommodation for them," he said in the event held late last week.

Indonesia is now taking more efforts to develop its tourism which has been set as a leading sector in its economy. New destinations are built across the country, expected to par with Bali in attracting foreign tourists.

The nation has set the target to welcome 17 and 20 million foreign tourists this year and next year respectively after recording an increasing number of their arrivals in recent years. Enditem