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Indonesia As MICE Destination

Home to at least 235 million people, Indonesia consists of more than 17,000 islands and is considered the world's largest archipelago.    The country is endowed with natural resources forming amazing landscapes, magnificent seas that co-exist with the mighty volcanoes and unspoilt jungle.  

Its capital, Jakarta is the hub of government and commercial industry that establishes a meeting point for different races, cultures and traditions.   Business visitors will enjoy an endless variety of activities from shopping while discovering the rich cultures of Indonesia in museums and historical sites. 

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The other MICE destination such as Bali is known to many business visitors and has earned itself a reputation that a favourite MICE destination year after year. In a nutshell, Bali's warm hospitality coupled with world-class accommodation, business and leisure facilities make it a natural choice for MICE planners. A new and exciting MICE destination, Surabaya is the second largest city in Indonesia which plays an integral part in the country's history.

Yogjakarta is another upcoming MICE destination among many others like Ubud, Nusa Dua, Seminyak, Legian, Jimbaran, Kuta and Sanur each bringing a unique blend of culture and modernity that offer excellent reasons to host an event in one of these destinations.

 

Spanning the equator, Indonesia is an archipelago in Southeast Asia consisting of 17,000 islands (6,000 inhabited). The largest islands are Sumatra, Java, Bali, Kalimantan, Sulawesi, the Nusa Tenggara islands, the Moluccas Islands, and Irian Jaya, the western part of New Guinea.

Indonesia had invested significantly in new infrastructure and these efforts include 11,500 classified hotels with over 255,000 rooms, 10 world-class convention centres to accommodate up to 5,000 delegates and 450 first-class shopping centres. Jakarta and other cities like Bali and Yogjakarta are seeing more events and conferences taking place maintaining their positions as excellent MICE destinations.

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The capital of Indonesia is Jakarta, a city with impressive histories and background. Once known as a seaport named Sunda Kelapa, Jakarta is now a thriving centre for business, government and industrial hub. With 8 million populations, Jakarta is growing as a metropolitan city and a superlative MICE destination that reflects the progress of the nation's economic, political and social scenes.

One of the most favourite and visited destinations for local and international tourists is Bali. Brimmed with magnificent beaches, awe-inspiring sceneries and rich cultures, it's no surprise that people flock to Bali for a great vacation and getaway. Tantamount to this is the incessant influx of MICE visitors for the destination offers a refreshing experience, making it a highly successful at gaining impressive business visitors.

Yogyakarta, recognised as the cradle of Javanese culture, is another destination that expands its appeal to MICE planners and organisers. Despite its central location in Central Java, the city is gaining its MICE reputation while still maintains its culture, tradition and values. Visitors can appreciate the charming blend of modernity and tradition that bears the hallmark of the Javanese culture.

A mass migration to Indonesian islands was known to have occurred in 3.000-5.000 before Gregorian calendar by Mongoloid tribe from China and Tonkin. This nation brought in new stone culture, bronze, iron and Austronesia language. The arrival of traders mainly from China and India also brought in Hindu and Buddha religion.

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The legacy traces of both religions like, Hindu and Buddha temple heritages. They were supposedly constructed during the kingdoms epoch. However, Borobudur temple constructed in Central Java, for instance, is one of the glorious evidence of Buddha and Sriwijaya Kingdom.  Other temples like Prambanan, Penataran, and Dieng Plateau were the glorious evidence of Hindu religion in the history of Indonesia. And Islam entered into Indonesia since the arrival of merchants and traders.

After the arrival of Portuguese in 1509, Dutch also invaded to control Indonesia as a colonial region at the beginning of 17th century. Initially Dutch controlled the region via VOC, which was then directly controlled by Dutch government since the beginning of 19th century to the World War II era.
By 1942, Japan was the only Asian nation colonizing Indonesia and surrendered in 1945 at the end of the World War II in Asia and also this was the opportunity for Indonesian to proclaim its independence on 17th August 1945.

Location
Indonesia is located between the Indian Ocean and the Pacific Ocean. There are around 13,000 islands in Indonesia. These islands are located along the equator between Asia and Australia.

Land area

The territory of the Republic of Indonesia stretches from 6°08' N latitude to 11°15' S latitude and from 94°45' E to 141°05' E longitude.
Total Area of Indonesia is 1,919,440 sq km
Land area is 1,826,440 sq km
Water area is 93,000 sq km

The five main islands are: Sumatra (473,606 sq. km); the most fertile and densely populated islands, Java/Madura (132,107 sq. km); Kalimantan, which comprises two-thirds of the island of Borneo (539,460 sq km); Sulawesi (189,216 sq km); and Irian Jaya (421,981 sq km), which is part of the world's second largest island, New Guinea.

Climate
Climate in Indonesia is categorized into tropical climate. The Islands experiences a hot and humid climate throughout the year. The seasons consist of rainy and dry season along the year and the average annual precipitation is about 1800mm. The temperature on the coast is about 28° C Celsius and drops dramatically in the highlands.

East season wind blows on June to September and brings about dry climate. In the meantime west season wind occurs on December to March bringing about rainy season. The change of two seasons intervened with hard rain. The hardest rain usually occurs on December and January with general humidity is 75% and 100%.

Source of information: Indonesia Tourism Board - Visit Indonesia 2009 & Ministry of Culture & Tourism, Republic of Indonesia.

Population
Indonesia has a population of about 250 million and it is the fourth most populous country in the world. According to the last census the total Muslim population is approximately 88% of total population, making Indonesia the largest Muslim society in the world. Indonesian population consists of many ethnicities.

Religion
The majority (about 88%) of the population is Islam. In fact, Indonesia is the nation with the largest Muslim population. However, freedom of religion is provided by the Indonesian Constitution, which is defined in the First Principle of the State Philosophy' "Pancasila", which upholds a "Belief in One Supreme God". Others religions followed in Indonesia are Christianity, Hinduism and Buddhism.

Language
There are about 583 languages and dialects spoken in the Indonesia. They normally belong to the different ethnic groups of the population.

Bahasa Indonesia is the national language, which is akin to Malay, written in Roman script and based on European orthography. In all the tourist destinations English is the number one foreign language. In big cities Dutch is still spoken, while popularity of French is increasing at good hotels and restaurants.

Politics
As in other democratic countries, Indonesia applies the Trias Politica that recognizes the separation of the legislative, executive and judicial bodies. The legislative authority is under the People's Consultative Assembly (MPR) that consists of two bodies namely the Parliament composing of members of political parties and the Regional Representative Council (DPD).

Executive branch
Chief of state: President Susilo Bambang YUDHOYONO (since 20 October 2004); Vice President BOEDIONO (since 20 October 2009); note - the president is both the chief of state and head of government
Head of government: President Susilo Bambang YUDHOYONO (since 20 October 2004); Vice President BOEDIONO (since 20 October 2009)
Cabinet: Cabinet appointed by the president
Elections: president and vice president elected for five-year terms (eligible for a second term) by direct vote of the citizenry; election last held on 8 July 2009 (next to be held in 2014)

Political parties & leaders
Democrat Party or PD [Anas URANINGRUM];
Functional Groups Party or GOLKAR [Aburizal BAKRIE];
Great Indonesia Movement Party or GERINDRA [SUHARDI];
Indonesia Democratic Party-Struggle or PDI-P [MEGAWATI Sukarnoputri];
National Awakening Party or PKB [Muhaiman ISKANDAR];
National Mandate Party or PAN [Hatta RAJASA];
People's Conscience Party or HANURA [WIRANTO];
Prosperous Justice Party or PKS [Luthfi Hasan ISHAQ];
United Development Party or PPP [Suryadharma ALI]

Source of information: The World Fact Book (Indonesia) 2011

Indonesia, a vast polyglot nation, has weathered the global financial crisis relatively smoothly because of its heavy reliance on domestic consumption as the driver of economic growth. Increasing investment by both local and foreign investors is also supporting solid growth.

During the recession, Indonesia outperformed most of its regional neighbors. The government made economic advances under the first administration of President YUDHOYONO, introducing significant reforms in the financial sector, including tax and customs reforms, the use of Treasury bills, and capital market development and supervision.

In late 2010, increasing inflation, driven by higher and volatile food prices, posed an increasing challenge to economic policymakers and threatened to push millions of the near-poor below the poverty line.

The government in 2011 faces the ongoing challenge of improving Indonesia's infrastructure to remove impediments to growth, while addressing climate change concerns, particularly with regard to conserving Indonesia's forests and peat lands, the focus of a potentially trailblazing $1 billion REDD+ pilot project.

GDP (purchasing power parity): $1.033 trillion (2010 est.)
GDP - real growth rate: 6% (2010 est.)
GDP - per capita (PPP): $4,300 (2010 est.)
Unemployment rate: 7.1% (2010 est.)

Source: CIA The World Fact Book (May 17' 2011)em>

Indonesia Corporate tax rates
After falling to a flat rate of 28% on all taxable income in 2009, the corporate tax rate fell further in 2010, to a 25% flat rate on companies with income exceeding Rps50bn, where it remained for the 2011 income year.

Access
Indonesia is one of the popular tourist destinations in South East Asia and attracts travelers from all across the globe.

The quickest and comfortable way to get to Indonesia is by air and flights that connect Indonesia to all the important cities of the world. In Indonesia there are airports present in every major city. These airports link the cities in Indonesia and the international airports link the important cities of the world. The important airports are Denpasar Airport in Bali (DPS) and Soekarno-Hatta Jakarta International Airport (CGK).

Indonesia is bordered by Papua New Guinea, East Timor and Malaysia. The travelers can get to Indonesia from Entikong- Tebedu crossing between West Kalimantan and Sarawak, Malaysia on Borneo.

The other option to get to Indonesia is by boat and there are ferry connections with Singapore and Malaysia. Generally these connections are between the ports in Sumatra, ports in Peninsular Malaysia and Singapore.


Currency
Currency unit of Indonesian Rupiah is called Indonesian Rupiah as IDR.
$1 US dollar ~ about 7,590 IDR (2009)


Electricity
Electric power supply is usually about 220 volts/ 250 circle in big cities, but 110 volt is still used in number of regions. In general, rounded-end stacker with two pins is usually used.


Time
UTC + 7 (12 hours ahead of Washington, DC during standard time)
Note: Indonesia is divided into three time zone.


Country dialing code
62


Visa
Indonesia Visa Rules - There are several types of Indonesia visas such as Tourist Visa, Business Visa, Multiple-entry Visa (for business trips only) and Transit Visa. All travelers to Indonesia must possess passports, valid for at least six months after arrival, and proof of onward passage out of the country.

Visas are not required for tourists who are nationals of Thailand, Malaysia, Singapore, Brunei Darussalam, The Philippines, Hong Kong Special Administration Region (SAR), Macao Special Administration Region (SAR), Chile, Morocco, Peru, and Vietnam.

Countries and districts eligible for a visa on arrival are: United States of America, Australia, South Africa, Argentina, Brazil, Denmark, United Arab Emirates, Finland, Hungary, United Kingdom, Italy, Japan, Germany, Canada, South Korea, Norway, France, Poland, Switzerland, New Zealand, and Taiwan.

These visas can be obtained from the following airports on arrival: Polonia (Medan), Sultan Syarif Kasim II (Pekan Baru), Tabing (Padang), Soekarno - Hatta (Jakarta), Juanda (Surabaya), Ngurah Rai (Bali), Samratulangi (Manado)

*NOTE: The information supplied here is meant as a guide only and is subject to change without warning. Therefore all travelers should check the visa and immigration details with the local Indonesian Embassy or Consulate.

Indonesian Currency Rupiah

The local currency of Indonesia is Rupiah (Rp) and1Rp = 100 sen.
Bills come in denominations of Rp 100, 500, 1000, 5000, 10,000, 20,000, 50,000 and 1, 00,000. Coins come in denominations of Rp 5, 10, 25, 50 and 100.

Foreign currencies, either banknotes or travelers cheques, are easily exchanged at banks and moneychangers in major tourist destinations. Credit cards are accepted at most hotels and restaurants in main cities. It is advisable to carry sufficient amounts of Rupiah when traveling to smaller towns or outer provinces.


Customs Rules
Import regulations

Free import (by adults only):

1. tobacco products (no limitations for diplomats): 50 cigars or 200 cigarettes or 100 grams of tobacco;
2. 1 liter of liquor;
3. a reasonable quantity of perfume;
4. personal goods up to a value of USD 250.- per passenger or USD 1,000.- per family.

Additional Information on regulations

(Video) cameras, portable radio cassette recorder, binoculars and sport equipment may be imported by tourists provided also exported upon departure.

Passengers not entering on a tourist visa have to pay duties for photo and film cameras unless this equipment is registered in their passport by the Indonesian Customs on former occasion. Importation of electronic equipment is not permitted at all. Film pre-recorders, video tapes, video laser disc, records and computer software must be screened by censor board.

Chinese medicines and printings, narcotics, firearms and ammunition, pornography, fresh fruit, cordless telephone are not permitted except for those holding license.

Prohibited are any commercial or merchandised goods as part of baggage. Infringements will be charged IDR 25,000.- per piece. The use of cardboard boxes as baggage must be dissuaded.

Export regulations

Free export permitted of 1000 gr. of tobacco or 50 cigars or 200 cigarettes for persons of 21 years and older, less than 2 liters of alcoholic beverages in opened bottles and personal goods up to a value of IDR 1,000,000.-.

Local currency (Indonesian Rupiah-IDR): up to IDR 5,000,000.-, must be declared to customs. For amounts up to IDR 100,000,000. - A form of the Central Bank should be filled out. Amounts exceeding IDR 100,000,000.- require an approval from the Central Bank or External Affairs. Approval can be obtained from the headquarters of the Central Bank in Jakarta, local branches or Indonesian representatives abroad. Violation will result in heavy fines.

Foreign currencies: amounts exceeding the equivalent of IDR 100,000,000.- (approx. USD 11,000.-) must be declared.

Source of information: Indonesia Tourism Board - Visit Indonesia 2009 & Ministry of Culture & Tourism, Republic of Indonesia.