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Tag: Indonesia

  • Pharma in Indonesia: Competing for Higher Margins

    Pharma in Indonesia: Competing for Higher Margins

    IPMG members – including Novartis, Merck, Bayer, Boehringer Ingelheim, and Pfizer – have invested more than USD $1 billion in Indonesia’s pharmaceutical industry over the past few years, particularity for the construction of factories and clinical research (source: AmCham Indonesia).

    An example is Bayer, which recently invested 8.1 million euros in the expansion of its factory in Cimanggis (West Java). This factory produces multivitamins and medicines, about 75% of which is exported to 26 countries.

    Concurrently, Indonesia’s largest pharmaceutical company, Kalbe Farma, is shifting from being a maker of generic drugs to a high-tech pharma developer. Besides producing cancer drugs, Kalbe has been investing in R&D on stem cell therapies. Significantly, a lack of generic substitutes in these fields in Indonesia implies no government-set price ceilings, and therefore these products offer higher margins.

    In fact, there are more than 200 drugmakers in Indonesia, most of which produce only low-margin generics. While they control 95% of the market by volume, they have a combined 75% share in value terms. Therefore the few multinationals operating in the country have been able to make more profits because of their focus on high-value products.

    Such activities are taking place while Indonesian President Joko Widodo is pushing its universal health care program to cover the country’s projected population of 270 million by 2019, a leap from the 170 million currently covered. This year for the first time, government expenditures on health care reached the legally mandated 5% of the state budget. Health care spending is expected to grow 12% every year through 2020.

    To join the discussion on all developments in this industry sign up for CPhI South East Asia and its LinkedIn group. CPhI is the must-attend pharma event in Indonesia comprising of a trade show and state of the art conference where the regional industry meets to leverage connections, knowledge and insight to spur business. Launched 6 years ago, the next edition takes place during 22-24 March 2017 at JIExpo in Jakarta. Workshops and exhibitors’ presentations will add into the mix, and will complement the 3 days together with a business matchmaking platform.

  • E-commerce roadmap will boost Indonesian young entrepreneurs` growth

    E-commerce roadmap will boost Indonesian young entrepreneurs` growth

    The Indonesian Young Entrepreneurs Association (Hipmi) of Yogyakarta supports the governments plan to formulate an e-commerce roadmap by early 2017.

    “The e-commerce roadmap to be launched by the government is a step in the right direction as it will encourage Indonesian young entrepreneurs and help them in expanding their business,” a Yogyakarta Hipmi member, Gunarta Adibrata, said here on Wednesday.

    Also, such a roadmap will help those starting their businesses in accessing the e-commerce system.

    “Young entrepreneurs will find the e-commerce business roadmap very beneficial,” Gunarta noted.

    According to him, young entrepreneurs need such assistance in order to grow their businesses.

    In addition, the governments timely interventions and support will increase the markets confidence in the ability of the young entrepreneurs.

    “Such an e-commerce roadmap must have clarity about taxation and consumer protection. These two things will add a positive value and enhance business certainty for those using the e-commerce system,” Gunarta noted.

    Earlier, the government had stated that the e-commerce roadmap, aimed at regulating and stimulating e-commerce transactions in Indonesia, will be released in early 2017.

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  • Indonesia to operate Becakayu Toll Road by 2017

    Indonesia to operate Becakayu Toll Road by 2017

    Indonesia will start to operate 8 kilometers of the 11-kilometers section of the new Bekasi-Cawang-Kampung Melayu (Becakayu) toll road connecting Bekasi City and Jakarta by March 2017.

    “I believe by March, the 8 kilometers toll road can start operations. I hope we can operate both lanes, so there will be 16 kilometers of the new toll road,” Indonesian President Joko Widodo (Jokowi) said here on Monday.

    Jokowi conducted a visit to Becakayu toll road construction to observe the progress.

    According to Jokowi, the toll project had been stopped for 22 years since 1997. The government restarted the project in 2015.

    Indonesia plans to start operations of the 11 kilometers of the toll project by 2017.

    The toll road will hopefully decrease traffic density between Bekasi and Jakarta.

    The Becakayu Toll Road will also connect with the Jakarta Outer Ring Road (JORR) lane that integrates with outer Jakarta areas.

    Jokowi said there were no obstructions from land acquisition of Becakayu Toll Road.

    “We have no problems as we have bailout investment. The assistance could accelerate the construction,” he said.

    Indonesia is boosting its infrastructure sectors such as airports, ports, roads and highways, and railways to develop the economy.

    The president also asked ministers to help attract and support private investments in the infrastructure sectors.

    According to the president, there were several areas in which such investments can support the development of infrastructure. Such an investment can be made by private sector players, state enterprises or via Public-Private Partnership (PPP) route.

    “Infrastructure development shouldnt depend only on the State Budget or Regional Budget. We should open such opportunities for the private sector and for non-government investments,” the president said here on Wednesday.

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  • Indonesian consumers regain confidence in Q3

    Indonesian consumers regain confidence in Q3

    Indonesian consumer confidence rose again in the third quarter of this year in line with their increasing confidence for the government’s recent economic policies, global research company Nielsen revealed on Wednesday.

    According to Nielsen’s Global Consumer Confidence Survey, the Indonesian consumer confidence index increased by three points to 122 in the third quarter from the previous quarter, an improvement that Nielsen Indonesia managing director Agus Nurudin attributed to a positive public response to the government’s tax amnesty, controlled inflation and manageable economic growth.

    “This is the first time we moved back to 120 after one year,” he told reporters, adding that Indonesia, since the third quarter last year, always scored below 120 in the quarterly survey because of political instability and economic uncertainty.

    The survey findings also suggested that although Indonesian consumers show an increasing willingness to spend, they are getting more rationale than before.

    “They prefer to reduce their spending on expensive tertiary goods, update their gadgets less often and change their foreign trips to domestic ones,” Agus said.

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  • Indonesian ministry to boost fish consumption

    Indonesian ministry to boost fish consumption

    The Indonesia Industry Ministry will continue to encourage and increase fish consumption in various regions to raise domestic demand for fish, in an effort to advance the maritime and fisheries sector.

    “We will boost fish consumption, apart from exports, through developing traditional fish industry, which would increase the demand in the fishery sector at home,” Industry Minister Airlangga Hartarto said.

    The minister made the remarks in his address to the working meeting of the Indonesian Chamber of Commerce (Kadin) on fisheries affairs in Jakarta on Monday.

    Hartarto said that his ministry would also encourage fish consumption on a national scale.

    Slamet Soebjakto, Director General of Fisheries of the Ministry of Maritime Affairs and Fisheries, said his ministry wanted to increase the peoples sources of protein intake through increasing their fish consumption.

    It was earlier reported that the Indonesian government had been giving priority to increase the fisheries production by relaxing regulations for fishermen and local industries. The move is meant to support these sustainable industries in the development of the national fisheries sector and maintain seafood sovereignty.

    As part of the efforts to boost fish production, the government, though the Ministry of Maritime Affairs and Fisheries (KKP), had earlier built 15 Integrated Fisheries and Marine Resource Development Centers (SKPT) in various regions in the country. The aim of the SKPT is to boost fishery exports directly from the center without the need to go to Jakarta.

    The SKPT aims to maintain food resilience, increase fish consumption, foreign exchange earnings through exports, and raise the income of the people.

    Five of the SKPT are located in Simeullue (Aceh), Natuna (Riau Islands), Tahuna (North Sulawesi), Saumlaki (Maluku) and Merauke (Papua).

    Ten others are also built in Mentawai Island (West Sumatera), Nunukan (North Kalimantan), Talaud (North Sulawesi), Morotai (North Maluku), Biak-Numfor (West Papua), Sarmi (Papua), Mimika (Papua), Tual (Maluku), Rote Ndao (East Nusa Tenggara/NTT), and Maluku Barat Daya (Maluku).

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  • Soekarno-Hatta Airport train expected to be operational by July 2017

    Soekarno-Hatta Airport train expected to be operational by July 2017

    The railway service connecting Jakarta to Soekarno-Hatta International Airport in Tangerang, Banten Province, should be complete and fully operational by July 2017, President Director of PT Railink Heru Kuswanto said here Monday.

    The service will provide 124 trips per day, with each train consisting of 10 coaches capable of transporting 274 passengers per trip.

    It is expected to run every 15 minutes to transport a total of 33,976 passengers per day, Kuswanto said.

    Canadian firm Bombardier was appointed to manufacture the trains.

    “The coaches will be delivered from Sweden in March 2017,” Kuswanto said.

    The government has invested US$70 billion to procure 10 trains from the rail equipment division of Bombardier.

    The trains will be customized to meet the national standard of railway gauge of 1,067 millimeters.

    The government has a budget of Rp2.7 trillion for the construction of the airport railway service which will be integrated into several Jakartas city train stations such as Manggarai, Sudirman Baru, Duri, and Batu Ceper.

    The train journey from Manggarai Station to Soekarno-Hatta International Airport is expected to take 54 minutes at Rp100,000 per trip.

    The railway network will be integrated with Terminal 1, 2 and 3 of the Soekarno-Hatta International Airport.

    PT Rilink is a joint venture enterprise between national railway company PT Kereta Api Indonesia and the state-owned airport service enterprise PT Angkasa Pura.

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  • Indonesia, Australia Cooperates on Mining Gold, Copper

    Indonesia, Australia Cooperates on Mining Gold, Copper

    National mining company PT. Aneka Tambang (ANTAM) and Australian mining company Newcrest Mining Ltd. are building a partnership in order to explore gold and copper potential in Indonesia.

    A statement released by the Australian Embassy on Sunday, November 6, 2016, mentioned that the collaboration document between both countries was signed by Indonesian Trade Minister Enggartiasto Lukita and Head of the Investment Coordinating Board Thomas Lembong in Sidney.

    Australian Ambassador to Indonesia Paul Grigson, who was present during the document signing, also welcomed the collaboration. “Two-way investment is a form of acknowledgment that both countries’ economics have many potential to offer,” Paul said.

    Indonesia and Australia have decided to raise economic issues in both countries’ bilateral partnership by reviving the Indonesia-Australia Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (IACEPA), according to Grigson.

    “More investment means joint prosperity,” Grigson said, while adding that increasing investments will create new job opportunities for both countries.

    Indonesia-Australia partnership in the gold and copper mining sector has been established since late 2015 in the form of preliminary studies.

    The preliminary studies were later followed up with a joint exploration in Indonesia.

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  • Indonesia expects 250,000 Taiwanese tourists

    Indonesia expects 250,000 Taiwanese tourists

    Indonesian Economic and Trade Office to Taipei (KDEI) is expecting more than 250 thousand tourist arrivals from Taiwan to Indonesia by the end of 2016.

    “In 2015, the number of Taiwanese tourists visiting Indonesia was 211 thousand. Hopefully, by the end of this year, this number will increase as we are also actively promoting tourism under the Wonderful Indonesia brand,” KDEIs Tourism and Transportation Director Agung Sepande said here on Monday.

    He noted that about 70 percent of Taiwanese tourists travel to Bali as the island is perceived as an attractive place and has various sites of tourist interest.

    To attract more Taiwanese tourists, the KDEI is promoting tourist sites in other areas, too.

    “We are inviting Taiwanese journalists to support this promotional exercise. We will take them to Bali and Lombok. Next year, journalists will visit Jakarta and Yogyakarta,” Agung pointed out.

    He noted that Taiwanese tourists in Indonesia want to dive and surf because the countrys beaches are very scenic and conducive to these activities.

    At the Asia Pacific Culture Day 2016 held by Taiwan some time ago, Indonesia had promoted culture and maritime tourism to thousands of visitors from more than 20 countries.

    Taiwan itself is a tourist destination with a variety of sites that accentuate cultural, culinary, shopping, romantic and ecological aspects.

    In Taiwan, travel guides divide the country into North, South, Central, East and the part outside the Formosa Island.

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  • Indonesia posts 5% growth in Q3

    Indonesia posts 5% growth in Q3

    Indonesia’s economy grew largely in line with market expectations in the third quarter, though lower government spending and a slowdown among its major trading partners proved a drag on growth.

    Data released by the statistics bureau yesterday showed Indonesia grew 5.02 per cent in the July to September quarter from the same three-month period last year.

    This was close to the median estate of 22 economists surveyed by Bloomberg News of 5.08 per cent though it was below the 5.18 per cent in the second quarter.

    The results are a dampener for South-east Asia’s largest economy – home to more than 250 million people – which has been striving to meet a 7 per cent growth target envisioned by President Joko Widodo when he took office two years ago. Lower commodity prices and weaker global demand have been a consistent roadblock to the target.

    Statistics bureau chief Suhariyanto said a contraction in exports deepened to 6 per cent in the third quarter from the 2.73 per cent slump in the previous one, due to slowing growth in the key markets of China, Singapore and South Korea.

    5.02%

    Indonesia’s growth in the July to September quarter, from the samethree-month period last year. This is below the 5.18 per cent in the second quarter.

    6%

    The contraction in exports in the third quarter, deepening from the 2.73 per cent slump in the previous quarter, owing to slowing growth in key markets China, Singapore and South Korea.

    US$10b

    The budget cut announced in August by Finance Minister Sri Mulyani, for the whole of 2016.

    China grew at a steady 6.7 per cent annually in the third quarter, midway between the government’s goal of 6.5 to 7 per cent.

    Singapore’s growth came in at just 0.6 per cent year on year. South Korea grew 0.7 per cent, marginally ahead of expectations but still a tad below the second quarter.

    Household spending rose 5 per cent in Indonesia, the data showed. But a reversal in government spending was a drag on the economy.

    In August, Finance Minister Sri Mulyani announced a US$10.2 billion (S$14.3 billion) budget cut for the year. “She took the decision to cut government spending, to make sure the aggregate deficit for the year would not exceed 3 per cent of GDP,” OCBC economist Wellian Wiranto wrote in a note. Government spending tumbled 45 trillion rupiah (S$4.75 billion) in the third quarter year on year, data showed.

    Indonesia’s economy has been hobbled by low global commodity prices, tepid foreign investment and infrastructure bottlenecks. Last year’s growth of 4.8 per cent was the weakest since 2009.

    President Joko is seeking billions of dollars to help fund an ambitious agenda to build roads, railways and seaports, Bloomberg reported.

    Reacting to the data yesterday, he said he hoped for a lift in the fourth quarter. “We hope with the trigger of (government) payment realisation and budget disbursement, it can improve slightly.”

    A total of six interest rate cuts by Bank Indonesia this year are helping spur spending as inflation remains inside the 3 per cent to 5 per cent target band.

    Analysts argue that revenue collection from the government’s flagship tax amnesty scheme could help cushion the economy from aggressive state spending cuts.

    “The cuts in spending would continue to weigh on the fourth quarter outlook, but stabilisation of oil and commodity prices should bode well for the overall economy,” UOB economist Ho Woei Chen said.

  • Indonesian unemployment rate down in 2016

    Indonesian unemployment rate down in 2016

    The Indonesia Central Bureau of Statistics (BPS) said in August, 2016, the country had 7.03 million jobless people among 125.44 million of labor force.

    “Compared with August, 2015, the number of working people rose 3.59 million and the number of jobless people declined 530,000. The number of workforce, therefore, increased 3.06 million in August, 2016,” BPS chief Suhariyanto told reporters here on Monday.

    Suhariyanto said the number of working people rose in almost all sectors during the one year period excepting in the construction sector where the number of working people dropped 230,000 people or 2.8 percent.

    “The highest increase in number was recorded in the public service sector in which there were 1.52 million more working people or an increase of 8.47 percent, followed by an increase of 1.01 million or 3.93 percent in the trading sector, and 500,000 or 9.78 percent increase in the transport, warehousing and communications sector,” he said.

    Among the 118.41 million working people, the largest number was in the agriculture sector reaching 37.77 million or 31.9 percent, followed by the trade sector reaching 26.69 million or 22.54 percent and the service sector 19.46 million or 16.43 percent, industrial sector 15.54 million or 13.12 percent, the construction sector 7.98 million workers or 6.74 percent, the transport sector 5.61 million workers or 4.74 percent, the financial sector 3.53 million or 2.98 percent and mining sector 1.83 million or 1.56 percent.

    BPS said in August, 2016, Labor Force Participation Rate (TPAK) was 66.34 percent or every 100 working age people , around 66 were actively employed. Unemployment rate in the same period was 5.61 percent.

    The highest unemployment rate by provinces was in Banten reaching 8.92 percent , followed by West Java at 8.89 percent. The lowest unemployment rate was in Bali at 1.89 percent and Bangka Belitung at 2.6 percent.

    “Tourism sector contributed to low unemployment rate in Bali and Babel,” Suhariyanto said.

    He said in August 2016 , there were 50.21 million people or 42.4 percent of the working people in formal sector having business with permanent workers of 68.2 million.

  • Indonesia optimism despite drop in economic growth

    Indonesia optimism despite drop in economic growth

    Despite economic growth slowing in the third quarter, the government remains optimism that better state budget realization will lead to an economic rebound by year-end.

    Economic growth slowed to 5.02 percent year-on-year (yoy) in the third quarter amid a reduction in government spending and weak international trade, the Central Statistics Agency (BPS) announced on Monday. Growth stood at 5.19 percent yoy in the previous quarter.

    President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo, however, said he was grateful that growth was slightly above the government’s initial forecast of 4.9 percent

    “Our estimate was slightly below 5 percent. It turned out that, Alhamdulillah [Thank God] it is now a bit above 5 percent,” Jokowi told reporters on Monday.

    Jokowi voiced optimism that growth in the final quarter would improve with better state budget realization.

    “We expect the budget realization rate to be slightly better in the fourth quarter, although we should also understand that the global economy continues to decline,” he said.

    BPS chief Suhariyanto said government spending had contracted by 2.97 percent yoy due to recent budget cuts. However, cumulative government spending from January to September increased 1.97 percent from the same period last year.

    Amid a weak global economy, Indonesia saw its gross domestic growth increase only 4.79 percent last year, the lowest rate in six years. The government is targeting economic growth of 5.2 percent this year and 5.1 percent in 2017.

  • Rupiah strengthens to 13,045 as of Monday afternoon

    Rupiah strengthens to 13,045 as of Monday afternoon

    The interbank exchange rate of rupiah in Jakarta moved higher by 23 points, reaching 13,045 rupiah per one US dollar compared to 13,068 rupiah previously.

    “Rupiah strengthened against US dollar in line with the growth indicated in the just released domestic economy data,” said Woori Saudara Indonesia Tbk money market watcher Rully Nova in Jakarta on Monday.

    According to the Central Bureau of Statistics, Indonesias economy experienced a 5.02 percent growth in the third quarter of 2016, thus reflecting that the cumulative growth has reached 5.04 percent by the third quarter of the year.

    The strengthening of the domestic currency has a lot to do with the market players confidence in Indonesias economy amid an uneven global economic scenario, spurring an interest in assets with rupiah denomination.

    At the same time, Nova believed the strengthening of the currency was still relatively limited, corresponding with commodity prices, especially the worlds crude oil price which is still at US$50 per barrel, indicating the psychological level of investors.

    The WTI Crude Oil was at US$44.76 per barrel as of Monday evening, while Brent Crude Oil was at US$46.11 per barrel.

    “The crude oil prices are expected to show an upward trend, sustaining rupiahs fluctuation in a positive area,” he noted.

    Meanwhile, Indonesias Central Bank recorded on Monday that rupiahs the middle exchange rate moved higher to 13,082, compared to 13,103 on Friday.

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  • Garuda Indonesia books USD19.6 mil net income in Q3 2016

    Garuda Indonesia books USD19.6 mil net income in Q3 2016

    Garuda Indonesia, booked net income of USD 19.6 million or IDR 254.8 billion (exchange rate IDR 13,000 per USD) during the third quarter (July – September period) of 2016 as an outcome of the initial implementation of the ‘Sky Beyond’ strategy, with a focus on Return Maximization as well as the continuous proportional implementation of the financial efficiency policy.
    “This positive result was achieved through non-stop hard work in implementing the ‘Sky Beyond’ business expansion strategy, which played an essential role in promoting the company’s performance the quarter.

    Despite the highly competitive season in the aviation industry, including the global economic deceleration which affected the national economic situation, we are quite optimistic of maintaining the positive growth of the company up to the end of this year,” stated M. Arif Wibowo, President & CEO of Garuda Indonesia, on Monday (31/10) at the media conference after the regular analyst meeting, in Garuda Indonesia’s headquarters in Jakarta.

    Arif explained that since the beginning of year 2015, Garuda Indonesia had been constantly implementing the proportional financial efficiency program. The predicted loss in the first semester of 2016 was projected to turn around in the next quarter by improving the whole performance during the peak season. The continuous financial efficiency program and the performance improvement in other aspects such as operational, services and commercial, are believed to have strengthened the company to achieve positive growth until 2020.

    Arif, accompanied by the entire Board of Directors of Garuda Indonesia and the president directors of the subsidiaries, also explained that the company had succeeded in increasing total revenue from USD 2.845 billion in 2015 (January – September) to USD 2.865 billion during the same period of 2016. Up to the third quarter of 2016, Garuda Indonesia Group (including Citilink) carried 26,043,138 passengers, which was an increase of 6.1 percent from the 24,551,594 passengers carried in the same period in 2015.

    From the total amount, Garuda Indonesia carried 17.81 million passengers (comprising 14.55 million domestic passengers and 3.26 million international passengers). Meanwhile, its subsidiary, Citilink Indonesia, transported 8.23 million passengers between January – September 2016, which was an increase of nearly 20 percent from the 6.86 million passengers carried over the same period in 2015.

    Garuda Indonesia and Citilink’s flight frequency in the domestic and international sectors during the January – September period rose to 204,182 flights, with an increase of 9.7 percent from the same period in 2015 with 186,052 flights. In addition, Availability Seat Kilometer/ASK increased by 13.3 percent to 43.91 billion from 38.75 billion ASK in the same period of 2015.

    Despite the challenging situation in operational aspects such as the domestic flights operations at the new Terminal 3 Soekarno-Hatta in early August, and the force majeur by unpredictable weather, Garuda Indonesia also suceeded in increasing its on time performance / OTP to 90.1 percent in the January – September period, from 88.2 percent in same period last year. The seat load factor / SLF of the period was 73.4 percent, with an aircraft utilization amount of 09:12 hours.

    In line with the continuous network expansion plan, in the third quarter of 2016, Garuda Indonesia started to serve new destinations in east Indonesia, namely Nabire, which was served directly from Biak, Papua, and Maumere, which served directly from Denpasar, Bali. The opening of these new routes was a strategic step to improve the connectivity between cities in Indonesia, as well as to strengthen its network in the domestic market.

    Concerning the highly competitive situation in the aviation industry – mainly in the Asia Pacific region – which influenced both domestic and international networks, Garuda Indonesia’s market share for domestic reached 41.2 percent, and 26.7 percent for international market share.

    “We still have time to maximize the power and potency of our strategy, particularly in facing this coming end of year peak season period. We believe that we can reach the continuous positive growth in the coming years, including our strategic plan for international network expansion in the near future,” Arif added.
  • Number of Chinese tourists to Bali shoots up 36%

    Number of Chinese tourists to Bali shoots up 36%

    The number of visits by Chinese tourists to Bali shot up 35.84 percent to 741.740 in the first nine months of this year from 546,035 visits in the same period last year.

    “The number of visits by holiday makers from China is now the second largest after those from Australia, which has continued to top the list of 10 largest countries of origin of foreign visitors to Bali,” head of the regional branch of the Central Bureau of Statistics (BPS) Adi Nugroho said here on Saturday.

    Adi said currently China accounts for 20.38 percent of the number of visits by foreign tourists to Bali.

    There were 3.63 million of visits by foreign tourists to Bali in the January-September period this year or an increase of 21.69 percent from 2.99 million in the same period last year.

    Adi Nugroho Australia contributed 23.36 percent to the total; number of foreign visits to Bali. Japan was the third place contributing 4.94% followed by Britain accounting for 4.52 percent, India for 3.57 percent, France for 3.56 percent, Malaysia 3.55 percent, the United States 3.44 percent, South Korea 3.04 percent, and Germany for 3.22 percent.

    He said the increase in the number of tourists from China was attributable to improved economic condition of the worlds most populous country and second largest economy.

    In addition, the countrys flag carrier Garuda Indonesia has provided direct flight between Bali and a number of cities in China such as Shanghai, Baijing and Guangzhou since 2015.

    China has become a target for market expansion by Garuda Indonesia for its international services.

    More than 100 Chinese travel abroad every year making that country the most potential tourist market which would benefit airlines.

    Chinese Consul General in Denpasar, Bali, Hu Yinquan, asked the government to provide sufficient interpreters for Mandarin to facilitate Chinese visitors, who could not speak in English.

    Hu Yinquan also asked that Mandarin also included in signposts as he believed more Chinese tourist would visit Bali in the coming years.

    In Manado, North Sulawesi, Chinese made up around 50 percent of foreign visitors in the third quarter of this year.

    “Chinese guests contributed 50 percent to the occupancy rate of the Lion Hotel and Plaza Manado,” says Sales Marketing Manager of Lion Hotel and Plaza Manado Anatje Pingkan Pinaria.

    Indonesia, however, is still far lagging behind Thailand in attracting Chinese holiday makers.

    Altogether, Indonesia recorded 8.36 million visits by foreign tourist until September this year or an increase of 8.5 percent year-on-year.

    Tourism Minister Arief Yahya said earlier this week, the increase gave greater optimism that the target of 12 million visits by foreign tourists to the country this year would be achieved.

    “In three consecutive months – July-August and September, the number of visits by foreign tourists exceeded one million. We hope that the number would be larger in October, November and December,” the minister said.

    In September, there were 1,006,653 foreign tourist visits or an increase of 9.40 percent year-on-year from 920,128 in the same month last year, he said in a statement.

    Based on data from the Central Bureau of Statistics (BPS) and the Tourism Ministry, the number of foreign tourist visits in the first nine months of the year was 8,362,963 or 8.51 percent higher than 7,707,034 visits in the same period last year.

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  • Japanese manufacturers pitch new products at Indonesia motorcycle show

    Japanese manufacturers pitch new products at Indonesia motorcycle show

    Japanese motorcycle manufacturers are promoting their products at the Indonesian Motorcycle Show 2016 in Jakarta, with Suzuki Motor Corp. using the biennial event to unveil its latest models.

    Suzuki took the wraps off the GSX-R 150 and GSX-S 150 sport motorcycle models at the five-day show, which runs until Sunday, giving the Indonesian public an opportunity to see its latest products before their official launch in the first half of 2017.

    “We are very proud to introduce the GSX-R 150 and GSX-S 150 for the first time in the world,” Kazumasa Watanabe, manager of Suzuki’s motorcycle marketing group for the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, said at the show Wednesday.

    He described the Suzuki GSX-RR technology, on which the new models are based, as the company’s “highest achievement” in the GSX series that helped Suzuki win the 12th round of MotoGP, the world’s most prestigious motorcycle race, in Britain on Sept. 4.

    Kawasaki Heavy Industries Ltd. also unveiled its Kawasaki Ninja 650, while Honda Motor Co. released the prices of its All New Honda CBR250RR, introduced last July, which are $4,900 for the standard model and $5,300 for the model equipped with an anti-lock braking system.

    In the scooter category, Yamaha Motor Co. introduced the three-wheeled Tricity 155 in Indonesia after it was launched globally five months ago.

    Indonesia’s three-wheeler market is still very new, but Mohammad Masykur, assistant general manager for marketing at PT Yamaha Indonesia Motor Manufacturing, was optimistic about its future.

    “The presence of Tricity in Indonesia will give a new color to the Indonesian automotive world,” he said, adding that the company’s “Leaning-Multi Wheel technology will make a difference on the Indonesia road.”

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