day Indonesian exhibition on travel and tourism kicked off here on Thursday at the Red Sea Mall with the aim of promoting tourism and cultural exchange between the Kingdom and Indonesia. Didi Wahyudi, head of Consular Affairs, inaugurated the Indonesian Culture and Tourism Exhibition on behalf of the Indonesian Consul General. A delegation from the Indonesian Ministry of Culture and Tourism graced the occasion. Fourteen Indonesian tour operators, travel agents, airlines and hotels displayed and distributed their brochures to promote Indonesia as a vacation destination this summer. Local travel agents with special packages to Indonesia were also present displaying their catalogue and banners. Didi Wahyudi expressed his deep appreciation and heartfelt thanks to all authorities in the Kingdom for organizing this event. “This event is being held in accordance with the development of people to people contact between the two brotherly countries, Indonesia and Saudi Arabia,” he said. The number of tourists to Indonesia is increasing despite the financial crisis experienced by the world. In the period January-February 2009, 894,720 foreign tourists arrived in the country. In February alone, 5,370 Arab tourists visited the country showing a significant increase of 37 percent over last year. About 38,000 Saudi tourists visited Indonesia last year an increase of 19.83 percent over the previous year. Indonesian travel and tourism agencies and the government are targeting 40,000 Saudi tourists for this summer, said Cahyono Rustam, Consul for Information, Social and Cultural Affairs “This program will directly promote Indonesian culture and tourism in Saudi Arabia and, of course, will strengthen people to people contacts between brotherly countries (Saudi and Indonesia),” said Didi Wahyudi. “It is no wonder that Indonesia is ranked second in the Go Asia Award in the ‘Best Travel Destination' category. The award was given by the German tourism institution Go Asia, which invited travel agents from all over the world to participate in the voting process during the annual International Tourism Bourse (ITB) in Berlin this year,” he said. One-to-one meetings between 14 Indonesian travel agencies and their counterparts in Saudi Arabia will be held on Saturday.
