Indonesia’s tourism stake in the Indian market has witnessed a tremendous uptick in the last few years. At the end of 2017, India emerged as Indonesia’s sixth-largest tourism source market replacing South Korea. Indonesia recorded a robust over 43% growth in 2016, 29% in 2017 and a strong 20% in 2018 in tourist arrivals from India. Indian arrivals have grown from just over 262,000 in 2015 to almost 600,000 in 2018 and look set to surpass its target of 630,000 for the year 2019.

Commenting on the Indonesia’s participation at SATTE 2020 as the Premium Partner Country of the event, Sanjay Sondhi, VITO – India, New Delhi, said that the tourism board has been participating at SATTE from the past ten years and has increased its presence from a small booth 10 years ago to now almost 300 square meters now, making Indonesia one of the biggest pavilions at SATTE 2020.

“Over the years, we have seen some very good response not just from the buyers coming from across India but also from sellers who have been coming from Indonesia. They have been very happy with the meetings and that’s why there is an increase in the size of the booth and the number of sellers coming from Indonesia. Quality meetings and suppliers’ ability to generate more interest in their products and destinations, the visibility has been very high for us at SATTE,” he said.
Commenting on the association, Pallavi Mehra, Group Director of Informa Markets in India, said, “We are delighted to welcome Indonesia as the Premium Partner Country at SATTE 2020. Indonesia has been one of our longstanding destination-partner over the years. As South Asia’s travel and tourism fraternity gather to showcase, buy, network and learn at the year’s most anticipated event of the region SATTE in a few weeks, Indonesia Tourism as the event’s Premium Partner Country will be at the centre of attention of over 35,000 trade visitors, buyers from across India and the South Asia region as well as international buyers from different parts of the globe.”

“SATTE being the biggest international travel show in this part of the world has provides the perfect platform to launch or showcase a destination to buyers from across India and the South Asia region. Indonesia’s decision to be the Premium Partner country for SATTE 2020 is a testimony to that. We are confident the show will provide tremendous partnership opportunities to Indonesian suppliers with buyers from the region,” Mehra further added.

Popular for the resort island of Bali, Indonesia is keen to showcase its diversity of products and destinations at SATTE 2020 to attract Indian visitors to places beyond Bali as well. “At SATTE this year, our message would be priority destinations and the segments that we want to focus on. Bali is very strong. It’s a brand. But now we will also showcase new destinations like Lake Toba in Medan, Komodo Island, Labuan Bajo, among others. We are also looking at Lombok and also Borobudur (A 9th century world’s largest Buddhist temple and a UNESCO World Heritage Site) and Prambanan (Another 9th century UNESCO World Heritage Site and Indonesia’s largest Hindu temple dedicated to Trimurti – Brahma, Vishnu and Shiva) in Yogyakarta because of cultural connect,” Sondhi said. He further informed that the tourist islands of Bintan and Batam will also be in the spotlight as the area is in close proximity to Singapore.

In the last three years (2016-2018), India’s outbound growth to Indonesia has been almost 3.5 times more vis-à-vis India’s overall growth in outbound travel. Indonesia’s has registered 43%, 29% and 20% growth in visitor arrivals from India in 2016, 2017 and 2018 respectively as against the overall outbound travel growth from India that has been recorded at 7.3, 9.5 and an estimated 9.8% (provisional) for the three years.

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By Shayan Mallick

Prime Minister Narendra Modi has repeatedly emphasized the economic benefits of travel and tourism, particularly stressing the need to build modern state-of-the-art infrastructure like convention centres to host large scale events. The PM has delved deeper too in his addresses on the events’ impact on the local economy and profile of the destination. A world-class event venue in Varanasi, PM Modi’s parliamentary constituency, for instance, is integral to transforming Varanasi into the Kyoto of India.

SATTE’s role as a catalyst of the Prime Minister’s vision is significant. The expo is probably the most important events in the country that, apart from highlighting India’s outbound tourism potential, is also dedicated to showcasing India and the region and positioning it across different spectrums of travel and tourism, from leisure to MICE, within and outside the country and the region. SATTE is after all the biggest and the most important tourism show in this part of the world. The UNWTO too hails SATTE as the year’s first major international tourism event and an integral part in South Asia’s growth as both, a tourism destination as well as the source market for destinations across the world.

The Chief Guest of SATTE 2019 earlier this year, former Tourism Minister and the then Minister of State (I/C) for Culture, Mahesh Sharma was extremely keen to play host to SATTE in his parliamentary constituency not only because of the focus and attention that the event brings to the destination but also because of its tremendous economic impact. While sharing facts such as that the sector contributes 6.8 per cent to India’s GDP and earns over 1.56 lakh crores in foreign exchange, an elated Sharma had profusely thanked the event organizer for bringing the show to the India Expo Mart in Greater Noida.

In its recent report, Allied Market Research pegs the overall MICE sector at a staggering US$ 805 billion in 2017. The report further estimates the MICE industry to reach US$ 1245 billion by 2023, registering CAGR of 7.5% between 2017 and 2023, pegging the sector at over US$ 1 trillion by 2020. According to another study, the exhibition sector alone is estimated to have surpassed US$ 55 billion in industry size globally.

SATTE’s economic impact is massive. The event itself creates huge demand across accommodation, travel and transport from road to air and tourism business for the destinations especially in the Delhi NCR, Agra and Jaipur etc. Furthermore, the event also supports exhibition structure companies, stall design agencies or logistics and audiovisual companies among others.

Commenting on SATTE’s economic impact, Sudeep  Sarcar, CEO of India Expo Centre & Mart, says, “SATTE is a big-ticket event and the big daddy of travel, tourism and hospitality industry in the whole of South Asia. India being the host country, SATTE sends out a highly refined message on India and the region’s readiness to host global events of repute to international industry stakeholders and decision-makers besides also cementing India’s profile as a destination which is equipped for high profile events, congresses, conventions and exhibitions. Furthermore, at the local level, SATTE also impacts businesses right here in Greater Noida, from hotels to various other service providers and contractors as well as across the Golden Triangle region of Delhi-Jaipur-Agra.

Beyond the economic impact, SATTE is probably the biggest catalyst of the social, professional and talent development of human resource and job creation associated with the travel and tourism sector and beyond by creating a great melting pot and a showcase of global best practices. Global profiling, innovation in travel and tourism businesses, enhancing partnership, business development and foreign investment, cultural exchanges, and more importantly, putting India and the region in the global spotlight, serve as additional benefits to the event’s direct economic impact.

PallaviMehra, Group Director, Informa Markets in India, also draws attention to the SATTE’s far-reaching impact that goes beyond tourism. “SATTE’s economic impact on India and the South Asia region is tremendous. Other than being itself an impactful event for the local economy, SATTE being India and the region’s foremost travel and tourism event provides the biggest showcase and marketing platform for the global travel and tourism community to discover this part of the world. The show’s impact on the region’s overall tourism growth, showcase and tourism revenue is massive. Furthermore, I believe SATTE’s key economic impact also lies in triggering destination and infrastructure development like that of hotels, convention centres, social, professional and talent development, among others.”

“PM Modi envisions to put destinations like Greater Noida that has a facility like the Expo Center as a hub for global events. SATTE, given its tremendous global reputation and reach, sends this message out most effectively. As a tourism industry event SATTE is the biggest showcase platform of India,” said Sarcar while concluding.

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