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JAKARTA – The government is pushing a strategy to boost cross-border tourism in South-east Asia and promote domestic tourism as a buffer against the impacts of the United States-Israeli war on Iran, which has disrupted global air travel.
Ms Ni Made Ayu Marthini, the Tourism Ministry’s marketing deputy, emphasised the need to shift focus from long-haul to short-haul markets, particularly the ASEAN market.
“ASEAN countries need to work together instead of competing,” Ms Made told The Jakarta Post during an interview on April 14, adding that the regional bloc had a dedicated framework to support cross-border tourism.
However, she acknowledged that connectivity and streamlined travel to Indonesia remained a major challenge in attracting more foreign tourists. According to Statistics Indonesia (BPS), ASEAN market alone accounted for 41.3 per cent of 15.39 million total foreign arrivals in 2025.
Despite its vast geography and diverse tourist site potential, Indonesia still lags behind its regional peers. The latest data from the ASEAN Statistics Division ranks Indonesia fifth in number of international visitors in 2024, behind Thailand, Malaysia, Vietnam and Singapore.
“The fact that Indonesia is an archipelagic country, the number one challenge is accessibility and connectivity. Unlike Thailand, which is a (littoral) country, you can drive and take trains (to various land-based destinations),” Ms Made explained.
She also pointed out that the fleet of active passenger planes in Indonesia had dropped by half from more than 700 units before the Covid-19 pandemic, which had weakened air connectivity. In addition, the country was struggling to enhance promotional activities due to a limited budget, Ms Made said.
“(Promotion) is a constant effort. You cannot stop. You cannot have a small budget for promotion because promotion is an investment. So I believe other countries in the region are putting a lot of resources there,” she said.
Meanwhile, challenges persisted in maintaining individual destinations to diversify tourism offerings, she said, stressing the need to reduce reliance on Bali as the country’s premier tourist destination. The ministry has projected a potential loss of up to 60,000 inbound tourists due to the Iran war and a corresponding fall of around 2.04 trillion rupiah (S$151 million) in foreign exchange earnings.
The fallout from the war includes airport disruptions and soaring jet fuel prices, which has fuelled concerns about potential adverse impacts such as prices increases in the aviation industry.
Amid the global uncertainty, Ms Made underlined that promoting domestic tourism was a crucial buffer against a potential decline in inbound tourism. “For domestic (tourism), the Bangga Berwisata di Indonesia (Proud to Travel in Indonesia) campaign is key,” she said.
“The long weekend is also a perfect opportunity for us to invite Indonesians to travel within Indonesia.” Ms Made said she expected the government’s work from home policy of one day per week for civil servants would help buoy domestic travel.
However, she hinted that the policy’s real impact remained to be seen, as it was intended to reduce energy consumption. THE JAKARTA POST/ASIA NEWS NETWORK
