JAKARTA, Feb. 2 (Xinhua) -- Indonesia has scheduled plans to take part in a French landmark tourism expo with an aimed to attract French tourists, a government statement said on Friday.
Indonesia's exhibit in the upcoming 2018 Salon du Tourisme Mahana Toulouse slated from February 9 to 11 would be jointly organized by Indonesia's Consulate General Office in Marseille and Indonesia's tourism promotion officer in France (VITO) Eka Moncare.
"Our participation in Southern France's largest tourism event was intended to further promote our destinations highly favored by French tourists," an official of Indonesia Consulate General in Marseille, Elizabeth Heri Astuti said on Friday.
In the upcoming tourism expo, Indonesia would use the event to explain the development of the volcano on Bali island, she added.
Indonesian authorities have declared that Bali has returned to normal with dangerous areas being shrunk to 6 kilometer from the previous 10 kilometers.
Should the volcano erupt, it would only affect 2 percent of the overall Bali land. The authorities have yet to downgrade the highest alert status over the volcano which now seemed in stable condition,
Besides that, Astuti said that Indonesia is now developing new ten destinations across the country which are expected to par with Bali in attracting foreign tourists, including the Borobudur Temple, Labuan Bajo, Lake Toba and Mandalika.
Apart from that, Eka Moncare said that prior to the event, the Indonesia delegation would host a meeting with local travel agents to sell more tour packages to Indonesian destinations.
She said the Indonesian exhibit in 2018 Salon du Tourisme Mahana Toulouse would showcase a variety of the country's cultural and traditional dance performances, national foods and beverages.
Commenting on Indonesia's upcoming participation in the French landmark tourism expo, Indonesia Tourism Minister Arief Yahya said that it was part of the nation's serious efforts to tap more tourists from France.
He said that the arrivals of French tourists have showed positive trend with 144,676 ones recorded from January to July last year, or 7.20 percent higher year-on-year.
"Indonesia now has become one of the favorite places among French tourists. As of last year Indonesia was picked among the top five destinations in France," the minister said.
