Indonesia Intensifies Global Collaboration to Boost Tourism Competitiveness

Tourism Minister Widiyanti Putri Wardhana has stated that the government is intensively forging collaborations with parties from various parts of the world to strengthen the competitiveness and quality of the nation’s tourist destinations.

“Our goal is clear: to make tourism a driver of economic growth, a creator of jobs, a source of foreign exchange, as well as a path towards equitable development and improved welfare for the Indonesian people,” Widiyanti said in an official statement confirmed in Jakarta on Monday.

An example of this collaboration, according to her, can be seen in the state visit of Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, including his visit to the Prambanan Temple complex in July 2026.

This momentum was utilised to strengthen the promotion of Indonesian tourism in the Indian market through the Wonderful Indonesia channel, Indian and international media, digital campaigns, advertising, and joint promotional collaborations with tourism industry players.

“The high level of attention from the Indian public towards this visit is expected to increase their interest in coming to Indonesia, getting to know Prambanan, and exploring more destinations in various regions,” she said.

The Ministry of Tourism is also strengthening collaboration with the Ministry of Social Affairs through the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding to support the implementation of the Sekolah Rakyat (People’s School) Programme.

As a form of support, the Ministry of Tourism is providing land in the NHI Bandung Tourism Polytechnic area for the construction of educational facilities and supporting infrastructure.

The cooperation also includes strengthening the tourism-awareness curriculum, synchronising social welfare improvement programmes in tourism villages and destinations, and developing further education pathways for Sekolah Rakyat graduates.

The Ministry of Tourism will also allocate a quota of 20 percent for Sekolah Rakyat graduates to continue their education at Tourism Polytechnics through a scholarship programme.

She also mentioned that the Ministry of Tourism’s presence at the Ministerial-Level Coordination Meeting on the development of the Bali region, led by the Coordinating Minister for Infrastructure and Regional Development, is an effort to achieve more equitable tourism development.

As a follow-up, the government will formulate a tourist dispersal masterplan to reduce the concentration of visits in South Bali while accelerating the development of destinations in North Bali, East Bali, and West Bali. This development will be integrated with improvements in connectivity, basic services, environmental management, and community empowerment.

The Ministry of Tourism’s support is provided through the installation of signposts at priority geosites, the organisation of international seminars, and the provision of bilingual information boards.

The visit also included the launch of the integration of Tourism Awareness Groups (Pokdarwis) through Village Cooperatives with the Ministry of Cooperatives as an effort to strengthen the tourism village ecosystem, increase community business capacity, expand the marketing of local products, and ensure that the benefits of tourism are directly felt by village communities.

Other reviews were conducted in East Java, namely at Ijen Geopark in preparation for UNESCO Global Geopark revalidation, with the target of maintaining its green card status.

In addition, the Ministry of Tourism continues to strengthen the development of quality tourism through various special-interest tourism products. In the field of event organisation, for example, the Ministry of Tourism is supporting 125 regional events included in the 2026 Karisma Event Nusantara across 38 provinces.

As of the end of July, 61 events had been held. Of the 47 events that have been evaluated, 4.77 million visitors were recorded, with direct economic transactions reaching Rp276.84 billion and involving thousands of MSMEs, artists, and workers.