Jakarta ( WNAM MONITORING): The Ministry of Tourism has highlighted Indonesia’s rich culinary heritage as a key strategy to attract more foreign tourists.
“Indeed, culinary tourism is one of our priority programs, both in the short and long term,” said Hariyanto, Deputy for Tourism and Infrastructure Development at the ministry, on Friday.
He highlighted that Indonesia has several local cuisines that foreign tourists can choose dishes from, such as fried rice, gado-gado (vegetable salad with peanut sauce), and soto (traditional Indonesian soup).
Culinary tourism can be even more interesting for foreign tourists because many culinary items are related to the local wisdom of a region, he added.
Indonesian culinary tourism, he continued, is unlimited and interesting so the potential to increase foreign tourist spending is much greater compared to destinations in other countries such as Thailand.
“There are so many things that we really have to pay attention to. Culinary tourism is part of the tourism product,” Hariyanto informed.
To promote Indonesian culinary tourism, he said that the Ministry of Tourism is currently focusing on culinary products to ensure that tourism products can move up a class.
It is also paying attention to wellness tourism, gastronomy, marine, and fashion.
“Fashion has the potential to increase the interest and visits of both foreign and domestic tourists,” he explained.
According to the Central Statistics Agency (BPS), the average expenditure of foreign tourists during their visit to Indonesia was around US$1,391 in 2024.
Acting head of the BPS, Amalia Adininggar Widyasanti, said that the expenditure was mostly for accommodation as well as food and beverages, which accounted for 57.49 percent of foreign tourists’ total spending.
In the fourth quarter of 2024, foreign tourists spent an average of US$1,287 per visit and stayed in the country for approximately 10.39 nights.
