In the post-pandemic period, Indonesia’s tourism sector is putting an emphasis on bringing in quality tourism, rather than mass tourism, as stated by Indonesia’s Minister of Tourism and Creative Economy Sandiaga Salahuddin Uno. Although Indonesia’s visa reforms a few years ago brought more visitors to the country, new regulations, such as legal action and penalties, have been recently introduced following a rising number of law violations by foreign visitors in Bali. This approach will contribute to responsible tourism, as well as the development of Bali “into a sustainable cultural destination”. Meanwhile, Bali is the second-largest contributor of foreign exchange to Indonesia after oil and gas. In January 2023, Indonesia received 736,000 foreign visitors, with 45 percent of this figure visiting Bali.
In addition to attracting quality tourists, Indonesia is also actively developing five new destinations as “super priority tourist destinations”, in order to focus development on other locations in the country as well. In line with this aim, President Joko Widodo also chose one of the priority tourist destinations, Labuan Bajo, as the venue of the 42nd ASEAN summit in May, in a push to promote tourism to the location.
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