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For the second consecutive year, Tourism Indonesia Mart & Expo (TIME) will be held in Bandar Lampung, the capital of Lampung province on the southern tip of Sumatra, on 9–12 October 2012 at Graha Wangsa. Staging in its 18th years, TIME is organized by the Indonesian Tourism Council supported by Ministry of Tourism & Creative Economy of Indonesia and the entire tourism components in Indonesia.
The Chairwoman and Steering Committee of TIME 2012, Meity Robot, said that TIME is an event for tourism industrial players and their supporting industries in Indonesia to promote tourism products and services in the country to international market. TIME is held periodically so that buyers can see the potential market of Indonesia and promote new tourism products in their respective markets. “We encourage tourism industrial players and their supporting industries in Indonesia to participate at TIME 2012 and take benefit in this travel mart. TIME 2012 will present all travel destinations in Indonesia, including popular travel destination, tourism attractions, and development of new products, to enable all regions within Indonesia to optimize their tourism potentials” said Meity.
“The conduct of TIME also supports the government program of “Wonderful Indonesia” as TIME is aimed at promoting Indonesia as tourist destination in international market and at the same time raise the country image as one of global travel destinations,” Meity continued.
“The shifting of TIME to Lampung for two consecutive years, 2011 and this year is aimed at promoting Lampung to the international market and speeding up the development and improvement of infrastructure, tourism facilities and tourism attractions in the region, so that at the end the destination could establish itself as a global travel destination. It will attract more tourist arrivals to the island and speed up the improvement of infrastructure and encourage more investors to the region to develop new hotels as well as tourism attractions,” Meity went on.
Director General of Marketing of the Ministry of Tourism & Creative Economy of Indonesia, Sapta Nirwandar, who is also Vice Minister, said Lampung was selected host of Tourism Indonesia Mart & Expo (TIME) as the province has significant tourism potentials. “From the tourism aspect, Lampung is very potential to be developed, not only due to its close access to Jakarta but also its richness of its flora, fauna, culture, and culinary. After hosting TIME for the second time, I hope Lampung could establish itself as international tourism destination and encourage investors to develop hotels and other tourism products in the region,” said Sapta.
Sapta Nirwandar also added that the impact of hosting TIME would be an increasing number of international tourist arrivals as well as investors to the region. “TIME 2012 is also aimed at promoting Lampung to international market and speeding up the development of infrastructure and tourism facilities, such as hotels, restaurants, transportations, and other related services as sellers offers its products directly to buyers so that the business transactions will lure other sectors,” Sapta concluded.
Head of Culture and Tourism Department of Lampung Province, Gatot Hadi Utomo, also Chairman of the Local Organizing Committee of TIME 2012, greeted Lampung as host of TIME 2012 for the second time. “By hosting TIME in Lampung, we could promote the province’s tourism potential and culture as well as position Lampung as one of global tourist destinations. Moreover, the people of Lampung could take part in the tourism development in the region. By holding TIME, we hope it could become a momentum for tourism development of Lampung for the welfare of society,” said Gatot.
Prior to the event, the provincial government of Lampung will hold a number cultural events, namely Tapis (woven cloth) Carnival, the 22nd Krakatau Festival the biggest cultural parade participated by all regencies in Lampung, Cultural Arts Performances from 20 provinces of Indonesia, and a tour to Mount Krakatau Tour. “We are inviting all tourism industrial components in Lampung to make TIME 2012 a success with better organization than last year,” Gatot concluded.
Held last year in Bandar Lampung, TIME 2011 attracted total attendants of 77 buyers from 27 countries, with top five buyers consisting of the Netherlands, India, Singapore, USA, Indonesia, Korea, and Singapore. TIME 2011 also attracted a total of 84 sellers from 64 companies from various provinces in Indonesia, dominated by Jakarta, Bali, Central Java, Yogyakarta, West Java, East Java, Lampung, North Sumatera, Central Sulawesi, and West Nusa Tenggara. The percentage of sellers based on the industry is Hotel, Resort & Spa (75%), NTO (10%), Tour Operators/Travel Agents (7%), Adventure/Activity Holiday (3%), Airline (1.5%), and others (Hotel Management, Tourism Board, Tourism Organizations & Travel Portals (8.5%).
“At last year’s TIME, we saw new buyers from Netherlands, India, USA, Indonesia, Korea, and Singapore. Moreover, most of sellers were first timers, including those from Lampung,” Meity concluded.
TIME is the only international travel mart in Indonesia with a B to B concept, matching those who sell Indonesian tourism products and services with international buyers. TIME has been listed in international travel mart calendar together with ITB Berlin, WTM London, Arabian Travel Mart (ATM), PATA Travel Mart, and so on.
TIME 2012 is supported by the Ministry of Tourism and Creative Economy of Indonesia, the Provincial Government of Lampung, and the travel and tourism industry in Indonesia, namely Garuda Indonesia as Official Airline, Association of the Indonesian Tours & Travel Agencies (ASITA) Lampung, Indonesian Conference and Convention Association (INCCA), Indonesia Hotel and Restaurant Association (PHRI) Lampung, and Pacto Convex as the event organizer. TIME 2012 is also supported by national and international media.
Theodore is the Co-Founder and Managing Editor of TravelDailyNews Media Network; his responsibilities include business development and planning for TravelDailyNews long-term opportunities.
