JAKARTA, May 25 (Xinhua) -- Indonesia is eyeing France, a major tourism market in Europe, to further boost foreign tourist arrivals in Indonesia through collaboration with French travel organizers, an official at the Indonesian Tourism Ministry said.
Deputy Tourism Minister Nia Niscaya, who supervises marketing development in Europe, said collaboration with local French travel agents and organizers was a strategic move to increase the number of French tourists.
The progressing contacts with five prominent French travel agencies and organizers resulted in the commitment of those agencies and organizers to survey places and accommodations in Bali from July to August and bring significant number of French tourists to the renowned Indonesian resort island from September to November, she said.
"The French market is very interesting. It has good profile and market potentialities. Now it's a matter of how we can seize this opportunity," Nia said, adding that around 23.5 million French people travel abroad each year.
Most of those travel agencies and organizers called for direct flights from France to Indonesia to ensure increasing visits of French tourists to Indonesia, Nia added.
She said French travelers contributed significantly to global tourism spending as the country was ranked fifth with 40 billion U.S. dollars in 2016.
Together with Germany and Britain, France became a major propeller of Europe tourism spending in the year, which accounted for 48 percent of the global tourism market.
Indonesian Tourism Minister Arief Yahya supported the ministry's efforts to tap the French market by intensifying the collaboration with French travel agencies and organizers.
"This is a good move as France is apparently a promising market in Europe. We expect to see significant number of French tourist arrivals as the outcome of this concept," he said.