JAKARTA, March 13 (Xinhua) -- Indonesia retained the title of the Best Exhibitor Award in the world's largest tourism expo of Internationale Tourismus Borse (ITB) held in Messe Berlin, Germany this year, brushing aside exhibits from South Korea and Thailand which were ranked the second and third in the event.
"We are proud of this achievement. Wonderful Indonesia has showed its position in international level," Indonesian Tourism Minister Arief Yahya said in Berlin as quoted in a statement on Monday.
During the 2017 ITB from Wednesday to Sunday, at least 10,000 exhibitors from 187 countries took part in the event, attracting more than 180,000 visitors.
According to the minister, the latest ITB award would further spur Indonesian tourism sector's calibration, confidence and credibility in international market. Indonesia has been making efforts to build up the tourism sector which has been turned as the nation's core business.
Indonesia grabbed the award last year, outclassed South Korea and India that secured the second and third ranks.
The minister said Indonesia expected to book 10 trillion rupiah (748.6 million U.S. dollars) of potential transactions in 2017 ITB, higher than the ones booked in 2016 and 2015 that stood at 6.5 trillion and 4.2 trillion rupiah (about 486 million and 314.4 million U.S. dollars) respectively.
