RI expects more tourists

JAKARTA (JP): Indonesia can expect more foreign visitors in the near future due to the wide coverage of the recent meetings of the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) here, a South Korean tourism executive says.

"At the very least more Koreans will visit Indonesia because the media coverage on the APEC meetings has created terrific awareness of Indonesia as an attractive tour destination," the director of Korea National Tourism Corporation for Singapore, Chang Ki-deuk, said here yesterday.

News coverage of the APEC meetings dominated the prime pages of major Korean newspapers, as well as prime time on both radio and television.

He said the number of South Koreans visiting Indonesia is expected to increase from 65,000 last year to 85,000 this year.

Indonesia recorded a total of 3.4 million foreign visitors last year and expects some 3.8 million this year.

Chang also said that the number of tourist arrivals in Korea increased from 3.23 million in 1992 to 3.4 million last year.

The number of Indonesians visiting South Korea is quite small. Only 25,000 visited there last year and the annual growth rate is only one to two percent. (icn)