ByteDance’s short video app TikTok and Indonesia’s Ministry of Tourism announced last Friday that they are teaming up to promote ten must-see Indonesian destinations, according to the Chinese tech company’s website.

Lake Toba and the Seribu Islands are among the highlighted locations under the initiative called TikTok Travel x Wonderful Indonesia.

“Our goal is to bring to life the beauty that Indonesia has to offer via the TikTok platform,” said Donny Eryastha, TikTok’s head of public policy in Indonesia, Malaysia, and the Philippines.

One of the heads of the Indonesian Ministry of Tourism’s “Wonderful Indonesia” co-branding team, Priyantono Rudito, said that this program is the first in a series of collaborations with TikTok and that the two parties will develop other programs to draw visitors to the country.

TikTok will tap local celebrities and creators to engage its user base. There will also be online challenges, new video filters and stickers, as well as roadshows across Indonesia.

In July, the Indonesian government banned TikTok, saying that the app hosted pornographic and blasphemous content. The ban was lifted after TikTok agreed to clear all negative content and open an office in the country to liaise with the government.

Indonesia drew a record number of tourists in 2018—15.8 million, a 13% bump from the previous year—particularly from Malaysia and China, though still fell short of its expectation of 17 million, according to a report by Bloomberg.

ByteDance said that, in addition to Indonesia, TikTok will partner with various tourism institutions in other countries too.

Korea and Indonesia tourism relationship

As spring approaches in South Korea, the Embassy of Indonesia in Seoul hosted an appreciation and networking night for around 40 prominent figures in the South Korean travel industry, such as the chairman, director and members of the Korea Association of Travel Agents (KATA). Also present at the event were Indonesia’s state-owned-enterprises (SOEs) in South Korea and media representatives, who introduced new tourist destinations.

The appreciation and networking night was held at the ambassador’s residence last week.

The embassy’s art and cultural relations official, Purno Widodo, told Antara on Tuesday that the networking event was also attended by representatives of Garuda Indonesia who promote Bali and Lombok. These two destinations have seen a declining number of visitors from Korea.

Although Indonesia is well-known among the Korean people, the number of Korean visitors to Indonesia is not as many as expected. There were 358,349 Korean travellers coming to Indonesia last year, but this number is 10 per cent lower than the previous year.

Among the many reasons for the decline are natural disasters, especially those that occurred in Lombok and Bali, the main destinations favoured by Korean travellers. One way to convince Korean travellers to return to Indonesia is through the Indonesian embassy’s intensive approach to KATA. The message is to persuade and instil confidence in Korean travel agents to promote and sell tour packages to Indonesia.

Indonesian ambassador to South Korea, Umar Hadi, took the opportunity to express his appreciation for KATA’s donation, made through the Indonesian Red Cross (PMI) for natural disaster victims in Central Sulawesi.

“You all have been true friends to Indonesia. We are very thankful for all your efforts to help Indonesia,” said Umar to the president of KATA.

Umar also highlights a few joint efforts to increase the number of Korean tourists coming to Indonesia, such as organizing familiarization trips for leaders of travel agents in 2019, to promote 10 “New Bali” destinations.

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