Indonesia charmed Norwegian Tourists through Reiseliv 2012

Kelompok “Anak Indonesia” antusias mengabadikan momen bersama Dubes RI, Esti Andayani, seusai mementaskan tari di Reiseliv 2012, Lillestrøm

The Indonesian Pavilion once again successfully attracted attendants in Reiseliv 2012, held in Lillestrøm, Norway, on 2 – 4 March 2012.  This year, the Indonesian Pavilion was designed in a seaside theme to support Komodo Island’s potential as one of the New 7 Wonders of the world, combined with flavors of Balinese and Javanese culture already familiar with the local people.

Reiseliv is the biggest annual travel fair in Norway, which always attracts thousands of people. This year, 382 participants from 43 countries joined the fair; among them were Embassies of tourist destination countries such as India, Malaysia, Morocco, Thailand, Cyprus, dan Brazil, airlines, travel agents, and travel book publishers. Estimation showed over 30,000 people came to see the fair.

Besides Bali, which has become the country’s main tourist destination, Kalimantan, Sulawesi, Sumatra, and East Nusa Tenggara’s Komodo Island also attracted prospective tourists with their adventurous activities such as hiking in the forests, mountain climbing, and diving. Some attendants were also interested in visiting Jakarta, the capital and biggest city in Indonesia.

Attendants enthusiastically looked for information on tourist destination areas in Indonesia, at Reiseliv 2012 in Lillestrøm

In this Reiseliv 2012, Indonesia partnered with “1-2 Travel”, a local travel bureau, to promote Indonesian Tourism. It was expected that after receiving information about Indonesian destinations, attendants could directly ask the bureau about details of the travel, such as the cost of visiting Indonesia. Partnering with the bureau turned out to be successful, as many attendants enthusiastically looked for further information.

Attendants closely watched the Merak dance performed by “Anak Indonesia” group at Reiseliv 2012 in Lillestrøm

The Pavilion also invited ”Anak Indonesia” group to perform Indonesian traditional dances, both in the main stage and the pavilion. The group performed three numbers, namely the Kembang Tanjung dance, Bajidor Kahot dance, and the Merak dance. Each year, Indonesian traditional dances have always been successful in attracting attendants, and this year was no different. In addition, the Pavilion had a continuous gamelan play, which had interactively attracted the attendants to listen to the serene Javanese tunes, and even many attendants played the gamelan.

Norway is a promising tourism market; the main reason why Reiseliv 2012 was the sixth consecutive times that the Indonesian Embassy in Oslo participated in the annual fair. Statistics Norway mentioned that in 2010, Norwegians did 22.9 million travels, in which 33% were outbound travels and 17.8% were holiday travels. This means, around 81.9% of 4.98 million Norwegians had holiday travels, spending about 9.44 million USD. Meanwhile, in the same year, the number of Norwegians visiting Indonesia reached 17.482 people, a significant increase from 2009 with 16.141 people.  Their average stay in 2010 was 11 days, with spending an average of 1,214 USD within that course of stay.

Oslo, 5 March 2012