Lake Toba, the mountains around it, and also Samosir island are the gorgeous destinations in Indonesia. Unfortunately, the infrastructure bottlenecks make it tricky to exploit the potential of the area. Formerly, vacationers who live out of Sumatra or abroad had to travel to Medan, located approximately 170 kilometers to the northwest of Lake Toba. They have to take a bus or car to travel overland for about five hours before hitting Lake Toba. These difficult circumstances made lots of folks choose another destination to travel to, such as Malaysia or Thailand.
The cause why Indonesia attracts few tourists in contrast to Malaysia, Singapore, or Thailand is because of the infrastructure hurdles. While between 20 and 30 million Americans visit those three states every year, Indonesia just fulfilled to welcome 11.5 million overseas tourists in 2016.
The presence of Silangit International Airport has made the tourists now reach Lake Toba in roughly 45 minutes. Therefore, it has become far more attractive for domestic and foreign tourists to travel to Indonesia’s largest lake, which is also the world’s biggest volcanic lake. Indirectly, Silangit Airport has made it easier for tourists to reach Lake Toba instantly. They don’t need to get off to Kuala Namu International Airport and proceed five hours of road trip anymore to get into Lake Toba. Silangit Airport is the best way to break the bad circumstances heading to Lake Toba, North Sumatra.
Although the President of Indonesia Joko Widodo on Friday has received the status of the airport and formally opened Silangit International Airport, work on the airport has not been completed. The runway period will be extended from 2,650 meters, now, to 3,000 meters, and the magnitude of the terminal will be enlarged to 10,000 m2 from 3,054 m2. This can make it feasible to welcome large-sized airplanes and manage lots of visitors. These goals should be completed by 2020.
The Indonesian government is hoping to see a 30 percent boost in traffic. In 2016 the lake was visited by a total of 230,000 tourists. Start in 2019; there must be at least one million visitors per year. Visitor expansion must trigger various new activities in the region, especially in the transportation and the hospitality business; thus, the welfare of the local communities must grow.
Batik Air, Sriwijaya Air, Garuda Indonesia Airlines, and Citilink have confirmed their Jakarta-Silangit course. Indeed, Garuda Indonesia also offers a route between Silangit and Singapore. Though coming from a shallow base, overseas tourist arrivals in Indonesia are already among the nation’s most prominent foreign exchange-earners. It is estimated that Indonesia can collect up to $16 billion in foreign exchange from foreign tourists since each tourist spends approximately $1,000 – $1,200 per visit.
In the January-September 2017 interval, tourist arrivals in Indonesia grew by 17.48 percent (y/y) into 8.82 million vacationers. On the positive side, there is tons of space for growth for the Indonesia tourism business, provided infrastructure development continues to advance. Local human resources learn the skills (like the English terminology) so that they can offer superior services to the tourist.
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