Raja Ampat islands of Indonesia.
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Visitors can learn more about famous tourist areas such as North Sumatra’s Toba Lake, the largest volcanic lake in the world; Bali; Borobudor Temple, the largest Buddhist Temple in the world, located in Magelang, Central Java; the ancient capital Yogyakarta; and Labuan Bajo Island, home to the Komodo dragon.
On 2017 April, at the programme “Indonesia Tourism Table Top in Vietnam 2017”, held by Indonesia’s Ministry of Tourism and the Indonesian Embassy in Hanoi recently, tourism cooperation potential between Vietnam and Indonesia was highlighted.
Accordingly, more than 10 Indonesian travel agents met with some 40 Vietnamese tour operators from Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City to introduce tourism packages and tourist attractions and to seek cooperation opportunities.
Further tourism opportunities will be available for Vietnam and Indonesia thanks to increasing wealth in both countries, coupled with the launch of direct flights and the possibility of signing tourism cooperation agreements between the two nations.
Tourism cooperation between Vietnam and Indonesia has been stepped up since the signing of the Memorandum of Understanding on Tourism Cooperation in 1994, noted Wiwiek Widyawati, a representative from the Indonesian Tourism Ministry.
In 2016, the number of Indonesian visitors to Vietnam rose 11.9 percent compared to the previous year. Meanwhile, tourist arrivals from Vietnam to Indonesia increased from about 49,850 in 2015 to nearly 61,000 in 2016, a rise of 22.35 percent.
As one of the organisers of the event, the low-cost carrier Vietjet Air plans to open new flight route from Ho Chi Minh City to Jakarta at the year’s end, which is expected to enhance tourism links between the two countries.
Indonesia is the world’s largest island country with 17,000 islands. Bali and Yogjakarta are among the most popular destinations. On the occasion, the Indonesian Ministry of Tourism highlighted 10 major destinations called 10 “New Bali” tourít sites. Those include Toba Lake (North Sumatra), Tanjung Kelayang (Bangka Belitung), Tanjung Lesung (Banten), Borobudur (Central Java), Bromo-Tengger-Semeru (East Java), Labuan Bajo (East Nusa Tenngara), Mandalika (West Nusa Tenggara) and Wakatobi (Southeast Sulawesi).
The country has set a target of serving 20 million foreign visitors by 2019 while Vietnam expects to welcome 17 - 20 million foreign holidaymakers by 2020.
