Ministry of Tourism and Creative Economy held a promotional event titled Wonderful Indonesia Week, a roadshow event where its first set had been previously held in the city of Jeddah on 13 – 19 November 2019. This time, in collaboration with the Indonesian Embassy in Riyadh and Holiday Inn Meydan Hotel Riyadh, the second set is being conducted in Riyadh on 20 – 26 November 2019.
The Wonderful Indonesia Week event is aimed to attract Saudi Arabian tourists to come for a holiday to Indonesia at the end of the year, which is also a time for school children’s holiday in Saudi Arabia.
This activity promotes the beauty of Indonesia through interactive information and various activities, such as Indonesian cultural and artistic performances, and also its authentic cuisine. Director of Marketing Development II Regional III, R. Sigit Witjaksono, explained that this activity promotes a complete package of Wonderful Indonesia’s destinations to Saudi Arabia.
“Wonderful Indonesia Week is the first festival event to be held that promotes Indonesian tourism from various aspects such as cultural arts, culinary, and tourist destinations with complete packages offered by the tourism industry,” said Sigit.
The 7-day event will begin with a Business Gathering on 20 November 2019 at the Meydan Room, Holiday Inn Meydan Hotel Riyadh, where Saudi Arabian buyers and Indonesian sellers gather. A total of 7 (seven) travel agents from East Java and Central Java were met by Saudi Arabian travel agents. These two destinations have indeed become the priority of the Ministry of Tourism and Creative Economy in order to introduce new destinations to the people of Saudi Arabia.
The opening ceremony was held on 21 November 2019 in the Holiday Inn Meydan Hotel Riyadh restaurant area, attended by stakeholders as well as prominent figures, media, travel agents, and influencers. The opening ceremony will present Angklung music and dance by the Ethno Art team and also Betawi cultural show by the Betawi Art team. There are also flashmob sessions inviting some of the guests to play traditional Tok Tok instruments from West Java.
Furthermore, during the Wonderful Indonesia Week, visitors will be able to enjoy the Holiday Inn Meydan Hotel Riyadh lobby area, which is conjured up by the theme of the program “Bring The Wonders to Saudi Arabia”.
“Hotel guests and visitors will be able to obtain information about tourist destinations through destination photo exhibitions, information counters, interactive areas, and also through the tourism industry that carries tour packages. Moreover, visitors can watch art performances, enjoy Indonesian coffee, learn from cooking demonstrations of Indonesian cuisine, and try henna art and interactive discussions about destinations with influential speakers from Saudi Arabia who have already come to Indonesia,” continued Sigit.
Besides, the restaurant will also serve Indonesian specialties through the activities titled Indonesia Food Festival for 5 (five) days on 22-26 November 2019. Visitors can experience foods with typical Indonesian flavors such as Soto Ayam, Rice Liwet, Chicken Satay, and Chicken Kalasan. Furthermore, there will be surprises where lucky visitors will get a complete tour package to one of Indonesia’s destinations.
The promotion of tourism must be carried out not only by doing innovations such as organizing festivals with a variety of exciting activities, but also accompanied by offering tourism products that are in accordance with the characteristics of the country. The growing interest of Saudi Arabian tourists to visit Indonesia needs to be coupled with the promotion of new destinations because so far, many Saudi Arabia tourists are known only for destinations in Jakarta, Puncak, Bandung, and Bali. This was revealed by Deputy Minister of Marketing Development II, Nia Niscaya.
“This year there are 9 destinations which have been curated to be offered to the people of Saudi Arabia, namely Aceh-Medan-Padang which is also part of the Malaysia Tourism Hub, then Jakarta-Bandung-Bali-Lombok which is well known to the people of Saudi Arabia, then there is Central Java with Joglo Semar (Jogjakarta-Solo-Semarang) destinations and East Java with Malang-Batu destinations. All of which we have considered from the readiness of the destination, the matching characteristics with Saudi Arabian tourists, and also the ease of connectivity. We also recommend 5 super-priority destinations that have become presidential programs,” continued Nia.