The Indonesian government will raise budget for tourism industry by 40 percent next year in a bid to attract more visitors, a report said Friday.

 

The budget will increase to 10 billion U.S. dollars for the 2007 fiscal year from the current 6 billion dollars, reported economic daily Bisnis Indonesia.

 

Next year's promotion will focus on Bali, bringing the theme of Visit Beautiful Bali-Indonesia 2007.

 

"We need to strengthen Bali as an icon for Indonesia, like Taj Mahal for India or the Petronas Tower for Malaysia,"" Vice President Jusuf Kalla was quoted as saying when visiting the resort island Thursday.

 

The government said earlier the extended budget will be used to finance a promotion program in Australia, Japan, Southeast Asian countries and Middle East countries, which become the major sources of international arrivals in Indonesia.

 

Another effort to increase international arrivals is the visa- on-arrival (VOA) facility, which is given to 34 countries and regions.

 

The government has set a target of 5.5 million foreign tourists and revenues of around 5.4 billion dollars this year, up from around 5 million tourists last year giving rise to revenue of some 4.9 billion dollars.

 

(Xinhua News Agency December 8, 2006)