The coordinating minister of Indonesian Maritime Affairs and Investment Lohoot Pandegaitan said that the tourism sector in Indonesia has been negatively affected by the outbreak of the new mutated Corona Virus (Covid-19) around the world, and that estimates indicate that the losses for Indonesia so far amounted to 500 million dollars.
"According to the data of the Indonesian Central Bank, our tourism lost 500 million dollars in one month," the Indonesian newspaper quoted the Indonesian minister as saying in statements made yesterday in Jakarta.
He explained that the Indonesian government has put in place packages of measures for the tourism sector aimed at reducing the size of these losses.
The minister said that about 173 million Chinese tourists travel on tourism tours around the world annually, which generates a global income of 270 billion dollars, adding that Indonesia receives annually from this number about two million Chinese tourists only, at a time when Singapore receives each Japan is about 6 million Chinese tourists.
Luhot said that Indonesia is campaigning to increase the number of Chinese tourists to up to 10 million tourists annually in the future.