INTRODUCTION

Natural and cultural wealth are important components of tourism in Indonesia which, with more than 17,500 islands, is the world's largest archipelagic country. Leveraging on these assets, this sector has become a key driver of Indonesia's economy. Based on data from the country's Central Statistics Agency (BPS), in 2018, tourism outperformed other key foreign exchange earning sectors such as oil and gas, as well as coal and palm oil, contributing US$19.3 billion (BPS 2019a). The sector is also growing quickly, jumping 13 per cent in 2018 to reach 15.8 million visitors (Soenarso 2019).

Based on BPS data, in 2018 some 59 per cent of tourists visited Indonesia for holiday purposes, while 38 per cent did so for business (BPS 2019). From the ASEAN region, Malaysia and Singapore are the two biggest sources of tourists coming to Indonesia. From elsewhere in Asia, Chinese tourists came first, followed by Japan, South Korea, Taiwan and India. The highest number of tourist arrivals from the European region came from the United Kingdom, followed by the Netherlands, Germany, and France.

Tourism has also become one of the key sectors of the Riau Islands’ economy. The Riau Islands is a province with some 2,000 islands (BPS Provinsi Kepulauan Riau 2018) located in the western part of Indonesia, bordered by Singapore and Malaysia. Due to its many coastal areas and vast expanses of sea, the province has a variety of tourist attractions and offers some world-class accommodation and leisure facilities.

In July 2004, the Riau Islands seceded from Riau to form a separate province. The young province includes six main island groups, including Batam, Bintan, Karimun, Singkep-Lingga, Anambas, and Natuna. The capital city is Tanjungpinang on the island of Bintan. However, the largest and the most industrialized city in the province is Batam.

In recent years, the tourism sector has become increasingly important for the Riau Islands, due to its dynamic growth as well as a downturn in other areas of the economy such as the electrical and electronics as well as ship-building sectors (Hutchinson 2017; Negara 2017). Table 3.1 shows how tourism (represented by “Accommodation and Food & Beverages”) has become a growth motor for the province.