Indonesia’s Batam Island Eyes Singapore Tourism Growth

Indonesia's Batam island, an industrial zone with desires of remodeling into a significant vacationer destination, is sprucing itself up to lure massive-spending guests from subsequent-door Singapore.

Batam is seeking to emulate the success of other Indonesian island close to Singapore, Bintan, which is already luxurious seashore and golfing vacation spot after opening high-pace ferry links to the town-state within the 1990s.

To do so it must overhaul its picture to faucet into the spillover from the booming tourism market in Singapore, the city-state only a 45-minute ferry trip away.

With Malaysia's close by Johor state luring extra visitors to its Iskandar metropolis, islands, seashores, palaces and national parks, Batam faces stiff competition. Johor recorded 15 million foreign arrivals in 2011, ninety % of them day-tripping Singaporeans.

Indonesian tourism officials say arrivals in Batam have stabilized at around a million yearly for the previous five years, lots of them coming via ferry from Singapore, which welcomed more than thirteen million guests in 2011.

While nearly a third of the Singapore visitors were from Indonesia and Malaysia, the remaining are vacationers from different countries who Batam officers hope may very well be enticed to visit if it develops more attractions.

With its large industrial sector and legions of migrant employees, Batam city is thoroughly urbanized, however exterior town, underdeveloped islets and coastal areas are being eyed by investors.

Ong Chih Ching, a Singaporean property developer, believes that regardless of its major industrial zones, Batam still boasts pristine seashores and a country charm.

Her firm, the KOP Group, is bankrolling the upmarket Montigo Resorts venture, which might assist reverse Batam's popularity as a shabby place the place Singaporeans established factories - and where some men keep Indonesian mistresses.

"I simply felt that it is a gem that has not been polished and that's not particularly reasonable because folks simply don't give it a chance," stated Ong, whose change of heart came when she went to view a vacant plot of land in 2008.

She made the decision instantly after viewing the property and the Montigo venture, which cost Sg$110 million ($88 million), will consist of 88 pool villas and 45 residences nestled on a hill with panoramic sea views. The advanced - which claims to be Batam's first 5-star resort.

Each Batam and Bintan are part of the Riau Archipelago, which has lengthy been overshadowed by Bali as a tourist destination.

"Batam's benefit is its proximity to Singapore, a tourism and aviation hub," stated Jonathan Galaviz, managing director of US-based analysis firm Galaviz and Company, which closely tracks Singapore's tourism industry.

With a population of just five to six million in comparison with Indonesia's 240 million and Malaysia's 28 million, Singapore's tourist arrivals boomed after it opened two casino resorts in 2010, constructing on its role as a gateway to the neighboring Southeast Asian region.