The Minister for Tourism, Post and Telecommunications, Soesilo Soedarman during his visit to London recently, launched the ‘Visit Indonesia Year 1991’ campaign, in a bid to lure more British as well as European tourists to visit Indonesia.

Entering its 46th year of independence, ‘Visit Indonesia Year 1991’ is a celebration and expression of thanksgiving of the whole nation, that in 46 years of struggle and national development, Indonesia has reached a reasonable stage of progress for its 180 million people. “Indonesia wishes to share its joy with the world and invites all nations to visit Indonesia in 1991”, the Minister said.

In 1991, Indonesia will be host to four prestigious global travel industry events, namely the ASEAN Tourism Forum 1991 to be held in Bandung, January 12 to 16, 1991; the PATA Mart in Jakarta (5 to April 7); the PATA Chapters World Congress (April 7 to 9) and the PATA Conference 1991 (April 10 to 13), these latter events will be held on the fabulous island of Bali.

President Soeharto instructed Minister of Tourism, Post and Telecommunications Soesilo Soedarman on April 4 to prepare the country for increased visitors as a result of an ASEAN tourism campaign. With 1992 designated as “Visit ASEAN Year,” President Soeharto intends to piggy-back on the benefits by declaring 1991 the “Visit Indonesia Year.”

“Visit Indonesia Year 1991” was supported with massive investment in advertising and infrastructure; Ngurah Rai International Airport was expanded with a loan from Japan government with USD 113 million funding; over 2.000 new hotel rooms were built in Nusa Dua’s BTDC area; and direct flights to Bali from New York City as well as Los Angeles were established to support the programme.

“Visit Indonesia Year 1991” was the first official tourism campaign by the Indonesian government. The last major campaign was “Visit Indonesia Year 2008” that was launched to commemorate 100 years of Indonesian National Awakening in 1908. In January 2011, the “Visit Indonesia” campaign was replaced by the “Wonderful Indonesia” campaign until now.