Yogyakarta hopes to bring more tourists
FIJI SUN SENIOR JOURNALIST FONUA TALEI EXPLORES AND REPORTS ON THE INDONESIAN CITY OF YOGYAKARTA AS PART OF THE JOURNALIST VISIT PROGRAMME, WHICH INCLUDES JOURNALISTS FROM BANGLADESH, INDIA, PAPUA NEW GUINEA, SRI LANKA AND THE SOLOMON ISLANDS ORGANISED BY THE INDONESIAN MINISTRY OF FOREIGN AFFAIRS.
The Indonesian special region of Yogyakarta hopes to attract more tourists to their city with the inauguration of their first international flight next year.
Head of the Co-operation and Investment Board of Yogyakarta Arief Hidayat said the opening of their new airport is an opportunity for international visitors to fly directly to Yogyakarta.
The first international flights are from Dubai, Japan and Australia.
Mr Hidayat said that the region’s 2025 vision is to become the premiere spot for tourists, culture and education in South East Asia.
Yogyakarta is one of Indonesia’s 32 provinces, foremost cultural
centres in Java and is one of the most densely populated areas of Indonesia.
The special region has a total population of 3,594,854 people which is dominated by the productive age group between 25 years old to 54 years old. Also known as a student city, Yogyakarta has 119 universities with more than 350,000 foreign students.
Local craftsmen excel in art such as batik, silver and leather works.
Mr Hidayat mentioned that he would be meeting with the Indonesian Investment Board from Jakarta next week to discuss opportunities for their local investors to invest more overseas. He said Yogyakarta welcomes free trade agreements with foreign countries to boost co-operation and attract foreign investors.
Yogyakarta is also looking to build a sea port that would cater to their first International export to Japan and Korea and to support their fisheries industry. Yogyakarta’s main imports are chemicals such as textile dye and auto spare parts.
They export traditional handicraft, coffee and agricultural produce.
Some of the benefits that international investors can enjoy is a fast, simple and clear license process, the services of an industry zone that has a one stop facility for foreign investors where all required licences can be processed at one location.
Investors are issued with a principal permit that takes five working days to process and the government also gives permission to investors to begin production if their application for licences are still being processed. According to Mr Hidayat this is a way to simplify the process for foreign investors to procure a licence.