<h2 style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 6px; border: 0px; font-size: 24px; vertical-align: baseline; line-height: normal; color: rgb(0, 47, 109);">Widodo’s sea highway plan could bolster cruise tourism</h2><p>Jakarta: The incoming Indonesian president. Joko Widodo’s sea highway plan connecting major cities across the archipelago with ten new or refurbished ports could be a major boost for cruise tourism, the country’s tourism board reckons. Widodo’s plans are primarily aimed on the freight side, designed to reduce logistics costs, but could also be something that bolsters cruise calls, according to the Indonesian Tourism Promotion Board (BPPI) chairwoman Wiryanti Sukamdani.</p><p>“The growth of the country’s cruise sector is highly dependant on an adequate sea infrastructure. The sea highway initiative, if it goes as planned, would obviously go hand in hand with our program to achieve at least 500 cruise calls next year,” Wiryanti said.<br>The country welcomed 309 cruise calls last year, with a total of 159,578 passengers. Ambitious 2016 goals call for 700 cruise calls and 500,000 passengers.&nbsp; [15/08/14]</p><p><br></p><p><br></p><p><br></p><p><br></p><p><br></p><p><br></p><div class="text" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-size: 14px; vertical-align: baseline; line-height: normal; width: 696px; height: auto; float: left; overflow: auto;"><p style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 5px; border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; vertical-align: baseline;"><br></p></div><div class="text" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-size: 14px; vertical-align: baseline; line-height: normal; width: 696px; height: auto; float: left; overflow: auto;"><div style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; vertical-align: baseline;"><br></div></div>