It's full steam ahead for Indonesia's tourism industry, which the government aims to be the country's leading foreign exchange earner by 2019/20. Tempo recently reported Bank Indonesia (BI) predicting the country will earn more than USD 17.5 billion from tourism in 2019, up from USD 14 billion in 2017.

The recent IMF-World Bank Annual Meetings in and around Nusa Dua provided an ideal platform to attract more investors with more opportunities to be involved in tourism.

According to local news wires four agreements specifically related to tourism were signed on the sidelines of the IMF-World Bank Meeting at the Indonesia Investment Forum (IIF) on October 11. These agreements are reportedly worth around USD 845 million to develop Mandalika in West Lombok and North Bali.

The first agreement was to fund the construction of tourist destinations between the Indonesia Tourism Development Corporation (ITDC) and the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB). 

Both parties agreed to build infrastructure projects with a facility value of USD 248.4 million, which is expected to be approved by banks as early as the first week of December.

The second agreement was for the construction of tourist destinations between ITDC and Indonesia Eximbank for the development of the Mandalika Special Economic Zone (SEZ) with financing facilities of up to USD 89.5 million.

The third agreement was between the Menjangan Group of co-investors and ITDC together with the Amrosk Group, the company developing Paramount Hotels and the licensee of Paramount Pictures.  The parties signed a Head of Agreement for a total investment of USD 310 million.

Amrosk will build four and five star hotels located in North Bali, near Menjangan Island, which are slated to be operational by 2022.

The final agreement was between PT Wijaya Karya (Persero) Tbk together with ITDC and with the Menjangan Group. The parties signed a Head of Agreement for the development of tourism destinations and infrastructure in North Bali with a total investment of USD 198 million for hotels, villas and cruise ship ports.

It was not immediately clear how this would support plans for Bali's new international airport at Kubutambahan in Buleleng, but Andrzej Barski, Principal of Harcourts Seven Stones told WILLIAMS MEDIA "infrastructure investments on such a large scale and in this area would seem to suggest they're connected."

Sources: Kontan, Tempo, Republika, Liputan6, Kompas

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