JAKARTA. Despite improvement, Indonesia continues to trail behind its Asian neighbors in attracting tourists, Tourism and Creative Economy Minister Mari Pangestu said.

Mari said as reported by Antara that Indonesia was less competitive in tourism than other countries in the region due to a lack of infrastructure.

The World Economic Forum’s (WEF) 2013 Travel & Tourism Competitiveness index reported that Indonesia ranked 70th in the world for competitive global tourism, four places better than in 2011.

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 “Indonesia’s standing in the region remains low, especially compared to Malaysia, Singapore and Thailand, which ranked 10th, 34th and 43rd respectively,” said Mari, who was speaking on Monday at the University of Indonesia’s 16th Economic Competition (KOMPeK 16) themed “Strengthening Domestic Trade to Engage ASEAN Economic Community in 2015”.

Infrastructure has hampered the development of tourism in Indonesia.

 “Indonesia excels in natural resources and value for money, 6th and 9th respectively,” said Mari, referring to the WEF index.

The minister explained that Indonesia’s tourism in 2013 was “satisfying”. Indonesia had 8.8 million tourists in 2013, growing by 9.42 percent from the previous year. The tourism sector earned US$10.05 million in foreign exchange, up by 10.23 percent from 2012.

Domestic tourism attracted 248 million local tourists in 2013, with spending reached Rp 154.7 billion ($12.68 million), or double that of foreign tourism.

 “In 2013, the tourism sector contributed Rp 347.35 trillion to the Indonesian economy, or about 3.8 percent of gross domestic product [GDP],” said Mari.

The greatest impact of the tourism sector is that it employs 10.18 million people, or roughly 8.89 percent of the Indonesian workforce. (tjs/ebf)