Indonesia's tourism taps significant benefits from Chinese traveling apps: Minister

JAKARTA - An Indonesian minister said on Thursday that the nation's tourism obtains significant benefits from traveling apps developed by Chinese online firms.

The massive use of digital technology has greatly helped visitors from China to plan their holiday traveling in Indonesia, leading to increasing number of their arrivals to the country, Tourism Minister Arief Yahya said.

"Seventy percent of Chinese visitors used internet applications to search for the destinations they wish to visit," the minister said while addressing the launch of a mapping app for Chinese visitors in Indonesia.

He added that 80 percent of those digital savvy potential visitors finally settle their traveling packages through such apps.

"This is four times more effective than using the regular process," the minister said.

The minister said that Chinese travel apps now have provided complete features to ease travellers in settling their holiday plans in Indonesia from searching the destinations, ticket and hotel reservations to the payment for all of those services.

Noting such a phenomenon, the tourism ministry has set up cooperation with several Chinese online firms to seize huge potentialities from Chinese tourism market to boost the nation's tourism sector, the minister said.

Indonesia has set tourism as its core industry with 20 million foreign visitors targeted to arrive in Indonesia in 2019, half of them being from China.

Resort island of Bali is still the most favorite destination of Chinese visitors.