The development of AI and high-speed railway has given a significant boost to Indonesia's tourism, making communication easier and travel smoother for a growing number of foreign visitors.
In November last year, Indonesia's Ministry of Tourism launched the Meticulous Artificial Intelligence of Indonesia (MaiA) platform to strengthen tourism services and enhance global competitiveness.
The digital curator helps travelers find trip inspiration and instantly create routes with personalized destination recommendations, automatic itineraries, interactive maps, and multilingual information.
"You can just ask the AI what you need and then they will suggest very nice suggestions for you," said a tourist from Singapore.
Beyond AI, Indonesia's appeal to travelers from the Asia-Pacific and Europe is also underpinned by its infrastructure, most notably the Jakarta-Bandung high-speed railway, jointly built by China and Indonesia.
Since its opening in 2023, the railway has cut travel time between the two cities from over three hours to just over 40 minutes.
"It's really nice, clean and really fast, so that's good," said a Dutch tourist.
In the first quarter of this year, Indonesia received 3.44 million international tourist arrivals, an increase of 8.62 percent year on year.
The government said the tourism sector's contribution to GDP during the same period was estimated at between 4.01 percent and 5.05 percent.
AI, high-speed railway drive Indonesia's tourism growth
Guinean Prime Minister Amadou Oury Bah said he was deeply impressed by China's achievement in green development and industrialization after witnessing it firsthand during his visit to the country.
Bah attended the World Economic Forum (WEF)'s 17th Annual Meeting of the New Champions, which concluded on Thursday in Dalian City of northeast China's Liaoning Province.
In an interview with China Media Group (CMG) on Wednesday, Bah said China's efforts to advance industrialization without sacrificing environment is an approach Guinea hopes to learn from.
"Yesterday, I visited the Dalian Port. It's truly magnificent and I was deeply impressed. The day before yesterday, I visited the Great Wall in Beijing. What also struck me most along the route was the lush greenery. The surroundings were verdant and vibrant, with a clean and beautiful environment. From this perspective, it demonstrates that China's development achievements are not limited to industrialization but also encompass substantial progress in ecological conservation," he said.
"While traditional industrialization thinking may not place special emphasis on this, it is in fact a critically important aspect, from which we will draw inspiration. It's fantastic, for China's natural environment is very beautiful. China's development indicates that industrialization doesn't necessarily mean environmental destruction. The two can be well-managed and develop in a coordinated way, allowing for both industrialization and environmental protection, so that people can live in a truly harmonious environment," said the Guinean prime minister.
Bah also hailed China's rapid development since its reform and opening up that started in 1978, adding that Guinea will learn from China to better meet the Guinean people's needs.
"We all know that in the space of four decades, China has moved from being a relatively less developed third-world country to one of the world's leading economies today. In the history of humankind, witnessing such a spectacular transformation deserves our respect. Such an exceptional achievement of Chinese leadership -- transforming the entire society with the largest population -- is a remarkable feat on the international stage, whether it was 20 or 30 years ago or today," said Bah.
"And in this respect, we are also moving forward step by step. I am not saying we will be able to match China's pace, but we will draw inspiration from China to make progress and meet the needs of our people. This will restore our sense of national pride and help us feel aligned with the evolution of humanity in general. And for the African continent, it will mean greater recognition of its contribution to the humanity development in relation to the rest of the world," he said.
Guinean PM impressed by China's green development, industrialization achievement
