TIME 2013 to Take Place in Padang 18-21 October

Tourism Indonesia Mart & Expo (TIME) or 'Pasar Wisata Indonesia' will this year take place in Padang, the capital city of West Sumatra after being held for two years in Bandar Lampung.

The event is scheduled to be held 18 - 21 October 2013 at Grand Inna Muara Hotel & Convention Centre.

Entering its 19th year, TIME is organized to promote Indonesia as a tourist destination and raise the country's image as a global travel destination.

"The shifting of TIME to West Sumatra is aimed at promoting West Sumatra to the international market and speeding up the development and improvement of infrastructure, tourism facilities and tourism attractions in the region, so that at the end the destination could establish itself as a global travel destination. It will attract more tourist arrivals to the island and speed up the improvement of infrastructure and encourage more investors to the region to develop new hotels as well as tourism attractions," said Meity Robot, Chairwoman of the Steering Committee of TIME 2013.

Various destinations in Sumatra are equipped with a good variety of quality hotels as well as cultural, natural and man-made attractions. "Hosting TIME would allow international buyers to take a closer look at the products on offer and aid local tourism stakeholders in selling their products overseas," added Meity.

There are six (regional) gateways in Sumatra, namely Banda Aceh, Medan, Pekanbaru, Padang, Palembang and Batam. "While direct regional services are still limited to Malaysia and Singapore, destinations in Sumatra can use these regional hubs to attract travelers from beyond these countries," Meity said.

Last year, TIME in Bandar Lampung attracted 83 buyers from 28 countries dominated by India, Singapore, China, Netherlands, Australia, Malaysia, and United Arab Emirates, with 74 Indonesian sellers occupying 60 booths.

The percentage of sellers based on industry covered hotel, resort and spa (75%), NTO (10%), tour operator/travel agent (7%), adventure/activity holiday (3%), airline (1.5%), and others (hotel management, etc. (8.5%).