Indonesia is focusing all its efforts on Bali and the islands around Singapore in its marketing efforts as it hopes to double the number of tourists by the year 2020.
The government has increased its marketing budget fourfold to almost £50m this year. The money will be spent promoting trips to Bali, Jakarta and the islands of Bintan and Batam.
Indonesia is home to the world’s largest archipelago, consisting of some 17,000 islands but it attracted less than half of the international tourists than its neighbours Malaysia and Thailand last year.
In hopes of attracting more tourists and making it easier for visitors, Indonesia granted visa-free travel to citizens of 30 countries including the UK, Canada, US and most countries in Europe. Visitors will also soon be able to touch down on their flights to Bali in style on a new two-runway airport at Singaraja in the northern part of the island.