JAKARTA, Sept. 29 (Xinhua) -- Indonesia won the "2017 Destination of the Year" award in the annual Asia Pacific travel and tourism competition event organized by Travel and Trade Gazette (TTG), a statement released by Indonesian Tourism Ministry said here on Friday.
The award was received directly by Indonesia Tourism Minister Arief Yahya at the 28th annual TTG Travel Awards gala dinner held in Bangkok, Thailand, on Thursday night.
"Thank you TTG for the 2017 Destination of the Year in Asia Pacific region. This is the highest and prestigious award, classified as Outstanding Achievement contended in the event. This award would further improve Indonesia's 3Cs, consisted of Calibration, Confidence and Credibility," the minister said in his remarks to receive the award as quoted in the statement.
Indonesia brushed aside Southeast Asia's tourism giants Thailand and Singapore that have been dominating the award in the last several years. It was the first time for Indonesia to earn the award from TTG.
Besides Destination of the Year award, Indonesia also earned two other awards in categories of best travel agency and best city hotel obtained by Panorama Tour and Ritz Carlton Hotel in Jakarta respectively.
The prominent tourism media, TTG, has initiated the annual award program since 1989.
Under the current administration led by President Joko Widodo, Indonesia has set tourism as its leading industry replacing the previous oil and gas, palm oil and coals.
The nation has orchestrated efforts involved by related ministries and agencies to develop tourers industry across the country, among other by developing new 10 destinations designed to par with Bali in attracting foreign tourists.
Indonesia saw increasing number of foreign tourists in the past few years with over 12 million ones arrivals last year.
By 2019, the government expects to see arrivals of over 20 million foreign tourists and over 24 billion U.S. dollars of earnings generated from tourism sector.
