Fresh off of being appointed as the new Coordinating Maritime Affairs Minister, Rizal Ramli had some pretty awful things to say about the capital’s tourism industry. But we have to say, he’s probably right.
“When tourists come to Jakarta, many are confused. What’s there to do in Jakarta? Culinary tourism? It’s not that clear. [Coming here for] business also makes no sense. That’s what we’ll talk about later with the Governor,” Rizal said yesterday, as quoted by Vivanews.
Rizal added that he wants Jakarta to have a clear goal of what the city can offer to tourists, considering that a large portion of tourists coming into Indonesia visit Jakarta.
“Tourism [in Indonesia] has been focused on Bali all this time, but 23% of foreign tourists come to Jakarta, compared to 41% for Bali,” he said.
While we agree with some of what Rizal said, we also believe that Jakarta is more than the convoluted metropolitan mess many people consider it to be. If you know your way around, there’s plenty of good food and fun for tourists (just browse through Coconuts Jakarta to see all that’s great about the capital).
And if you’re a confused tourist in Jakarta, you might want to check out our tourist guide for Surviving Jakarta.
