UK welcomes big-spending Indonesians



JAKARTA: -- The Jakarta Globe reported, citing the British embassy, that Indonesians contributed 31 million pounds to the tourism sector in the United Kingdom with a record average spend of 1,240 pounds ($1,900) per visitor.

According to the latest immigration statistics for the year ending March 2015, the Jakarta mission had issued 32,907 visas to Indonesians wanting to visit the UK.

Visit Britain, the UK’s tourism board, predicts the number of visitors will rise further with over 50,000 Indonesians visiting the UK every year within five years. Last year, more than 200,000 Britons also visited Indonesia.

British ambassador to Indonesia, the Association of Southeast Asian Nations and Timor Leste, Moazzam Malik, said tourism between the UK and Indonesia has enormous potential.

With the peak holiday season fast approaching, Malik had no doubt there would be many Indonesians enjoying the UK’s unique opportunities: shopping, world famous cuisine, history and, of course, football.

Tourism is a key export industry for the UK, bringing 21.7 billion pounds of inbound tourist spending into the British economy last year. Indonesia is recognized for the increasing role it is playing and just last month VisitBritain held its largest annual tourism event in Bali.

Source: http://englishnews.thaipbs.or.th/uk-welcomes-big-spending-indonesians


-- Thai PBS 2015-06-01

may as well we've laid out the welcome mat to the rest of the world

Nice Picture.

I'm sure UK has more than just a red carpet to show to the world.

On the other hand there is a great disparity within tourist industries of UK and Indonesia. It lies in the ill conceived term "quality" of tourists.

200,000 Brits to Indonesia probably spend less than 33,000 Indonesians in UK.

And this is not even going into the attractions offered on each side.

There should be more tourists from Muslim countries in UK, so they can see how their people are treated over there.

Post with racist remark has been removed.

Yes the only trouble is that many of them don't come back, or are casing out the joint,

Yes the only trouble is that many of them don't come back, or are casing out the joint,

How do you know?

You never went back too probably and there are thousands like you in same situation in Thailand and Indonesia.