Shaping the Future of Indonesia's Tourism Industry Post-2025

In January 2026, Indonesia embarked on implementing a new legal framework for tourism development, based on Law No. 18/2025. This illustrates the country’s intention to adapt its tourism strategy by acknowledging pandemic lessons and changing conditions. The innovations propose a more sustainable approach to tourism planning and resource management, prompted not only by the pandemic but also by other global changes, such as climate change.

One of the key challenges for Indonesia is bridging the gap between expectations and reality in the tourism sector. The new law emphasizes the importance of focusing on quality rather than merely quantity, calling for a thoughtful balance between economy and ecology.

Tourism policy must be based on in-depth analysis and monitoring of tourism destination development and ensure the involvement of all stakeholders. This is particularly important for popular destinations like Bali, where the allure of visits often overshadows the realities of ecological and strategic challenges.

Indonesia’s tourism industry plan envisions development on both global and national levels. While the government has hinted at achievements by 2025, 2026 marks a turning point for revising previous strategies in light of current events and challenges.

The paradigm shift requires revisiting infrastructure and institutional platforms like transportation and resource management to cope with future sustainable development tasks. National and subnational destination developments will also receive focused attention, with air and maritime transport capabilities being crucial to meet current and future tourist needs.

Global trends show that tourists increasingly prefer nearby destinations, emphasizing the need to diversify national tourism appeal.

Indonesia’s new approach to tourism strategy represents a bridge between ambitious goals and feasibility, emphasizing sustainable development and the judicious use of resources. Indonesia demonstrates readiness to achieve not only quantitative but also qualitative outcomes, including economic benefits and sustainable development in the long term.