Jakarta in big five world’s fastest growing destinations

The Global Destination Cities Index (GDCI) has placed Jakarta as the fifth fastest growing destination amid 132 cities, according to an annual report issued by Mastercard on Tuesday.

The report shows that Jakarta's position was behind Osaka in Japan, Chengdu in China, Colombo in Sri Lanka and Abu Dhabi in United Arab Emirates, while the five cities behind Jakarta are Tokyo, Hanoi, Riyadh, Lima and Taipei.

Legion Lead Asia Pacific Mastercard senior vice president Eric Scheineder said 59.1 percent of people were visiting Jakarta for business, while the other 40.9 percent were visiting for leisure.

"The research shows more than half of visitors were visiting Jakarta for business purposes," Scheineder said in Singapore on Tuesday as quoted by kontan.co.id, adding that meanwhile 98 percent of visits to Colombo were for leisure purposes.

Similarly, a majority of visitors to Osaka (89.4 percent) and Chengdu (82.6 percent) were for leisure, indicating that Jakarta is not yet a major destination for leisure purposes.

This is also indicated by the spending figures of Jakarta visitors, which were 44.6 percent for accommodation, 20.4 percent for food, 13.4 percent for shopping, 10.6 percent for transportation, 10.2 percent for local services and 0.8 percent for other purposes.

Scheineder said it was a challenge for Jakarta to attract more visitors who want to spend their time for leisure. "Jakarta needs to attract more tourists, who have already visited Singapore, Thailand, China and India to come to the city for leisure purposes" he added. (bbn)

Source: Jakarta in big five world's fastest growing destinations