The Surabaya City Government (Pemkot) continues to expand the reach of its tourism sector outside Java Island. Through the Department of Culture, Youth, Sports, and Tourism (Disbudporapar), the City Government held a business matching event titled Surabaya Table Top "Where Business Meets Leisure" in Balikpapan, East Kalimantan, to attract tourists from the neighboring island.
Taking place at the Platinum Hotel & Convention Hall Balikpapan, this strategic activity directly brought together 33 tourism industry players from the City of Heroes with around 125 potential buyers. These buyers included travel agents, corporations, government agencies, communities, and various tourism associations in the East Kalimantan region.
Head of the Tourism Division of the Surabaya City Disbudporapar, Farah Andita Ramdhani, explained that the choice of Balikpapan was based on its strategic position as the main gateway to East Kalimantan. In addition to excellent air transportation connectivity, the city is also recorded as one of the largest contributors to hotel occupancy and tourist visits to Surabaya.
Farah emphasized that this initiative was designed to strengthen Surabaya's tourism market penetration while building sustainable partnerships. She hoped this meeting could be followed up with concrete collaboration, ranging from creating joint tour packages, organizing MICE (Meeting, Incentive, Convention, and Exhibition) events, to increasing the flow of travelers.
On this occasion, Surabaya showcased its various tourism strengths, such as heritage destinations, culinary tourism, medical tourism, sport tourism, and capable MICE infrastructure. Various annual event calendars typical of Surabaya were also offered to attract the attention of national-scale event promoters.
Seeing the positive response and high enthusiasm from participants in Kalimantan, the Surabaya City Government is committed to replicating similar promotion models in other potential regions in Indonesia. This tactical step is considered effective to drive tourism sector growth and provide a real economic impact for the region.
