Indonesia’s Minister of Tourism and the Creative Economy, Sandiaga Uno, announced on Saturday, 19 November 2022, that Mainland Chinese tourists are expected to return to Indonesia in 2023. Before the global pandemic, Chinese tourists represented one of the leading sources of foreign visitors to the Republic.
Sandiaga, quoted by the State News Agency Antara, confirmed that several Chinese Airlines have applied to resume flights to Indonesia. The Tourism Minister views the return of Chinese tourists as a positive development. Adding, the flight applications filed by PRC Airlines are a positive signal that the Chinese are prepared to reinstate Indonesia as a favorite holiday destination.
Sandiaga projects that at least 255,700 Chinese tourists will come to Indonesia in 2023. Before 2019 and the onset of the global pandemic, Chinese visitor numbers to Indonesia managed to achieve 2.07 million. Chinese visitors were second to Malaysians totaling 2.98 million.
At this time, the largest source of foreign tourists to Indonesia is Australia, followed in order of size by Singapore, Malaysia, India, and the U.K.
Sandiaga said the relaxation of travel restrictions imposed by the PRC government would facilitate the coming flights and significantly impact the rebuilding of Indonesia’s travel industry and creating employment opportunities.
