Foreigners, MICE say Let’s Go to Lombok

NTB Rates High in Tourism Survey

L. Gita Aryadi

A SURVEY by Indonesia’s leading meeting industry magazine has rated Lombok as the fifth most popular Indonesian destination for international tourists and third most popular destination for MICE (meetings, incentives, conventions and exhibitions) events.

The official survey by Venue Magazine found that international tourists favoured Lombok after neighbouring islands Bali and Komodo, then Yogyakarta and the special capital city region of Jakarta, both on Java.

The finding is a boost to efforts by the West Nusa Tenggara (NTB) provincial administration and tourism industry to improve facilities, services and accessibility for visitors.

“The rating puts Lombok ahead of other popular areas such as Bandung in West Java, East Java, Manado and Bunaken in North Sulawesi, Central Java and Raja Ampat in Papua,” said NTB Culture and Tourism head Gita Aryadi.

“If the survey had been conducted into 2012 when a variety of tourism improvements were well underway, then we believe the islands of Lombok and Sumbawa could have taken second or third place,” said Gita.

Lombok’s position as third most popular Indonesian destination for meetings and exhibitions endorses government and industry strategies to improve the island’s share of the lucrative MICE market.

“Only the city of Jakarta and Bali are more popular than NTB for MICE events,” said Gita. “We are ahead of the special region of Yogyakarta, Solo, Batam, Surabaya, Central Java, Makassar, Manado, Banten then Bandung and others.”

The Venue Magazine survey results support the findings of earlier research by Bank Indonesia Mataram and Mataram University’s economics faculty which found that 90.45 percent of surveyed tourists who had visited Lombok or Sumbawa said they would return.

Both results endorse the tourism sector’s conviction that continued exploration and development of NTB’s stunning natural attractions and rich culture will help achieve its vast potential for tourism growth.

“The challenge, of course, is to create and maintain a climate in NTB that is conducive to investment,” said Gita.

“Today, many locations in NTB are being trialled by entrepreneurs who want to invest, especially those engaged in the tourism sector.

“The effort to attract investment has received support from the provincial government and regional and city administrations which are all working to ease the path to investment.”

And the national land agency (BPN) in NTB has moved to identify land that has been abandoned by intending developers and to require investors to start development.

“Thanks to God, over the next two years many new hotels will be built on Lombok,” said Gita. Culture and Tourism department data to the end of March 2012 showed that Lombok could expect 1500 new hotel rooms, he said.

Gita said NTB people could be optimistic that if they kept their province clean and helped build its tourism industry, they would prosper.

Venue Magazine has a monthly circulation of 20,000 and is read by meeting planners and exhibition organisers in Indonesia. 

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