What the minister announced
At a press conference on Wednesday 21 October 2026, Coordinating Minister for Economic Affairs Airlangga Hartarto said the tourism sector is aiming for 16 to 17.6 million foreign visits in 2026. He put the sector's foreign exchange earnings at around US$24 billion and compared that to the value of palm oil exports.
Six tourism special economic zones (SEZs) are expected to help reach the goal. They are Mandalika, Kura-Kura Bali, Tanjung Kelayang, Tanjung Lesung, Lido and Likupang. An SEZ in Indonesia is an area with a special regime where the state encourages investment.
Zone projections for 2027
Hartarto listed projections for several tourism SEZs for 2027. All of them are targets and not results. For Kura-Kura Bali he cited 600,000 tourists and an economic value of Rp600 billion, about US$33 million. He tied the figure to the start of operations at the retail outlets inside the zone. He added that the zone is projected to bring in US$3.66 billion in foreign exchange.
Mandalika is projected higher, at 1.6 million tourists and Rp8.6 trillion, about US$477 million. Tanjung Lesung is set at 1.5 million visits and Rp3 trillion, about US$166.4 million. Lido is projected at 220,000 tourists, Rp352 billion, about US$19.5 million, and US$1.8 billion in foreign exchange.
What has to happen first
The minister said the targets depend on promotion and connectivity. He expects the Ministry of Tourism to coordinate SEZ promotion at home and abroad, raise workforce skills and draw up an events calendar.
The government is also pushing for better links together with the Ministry of Transportation, especially through airport development and airline services. The statement names no specific projects or deadlines.
How to read the targets
The targets in the minister's statement differ widely between zones. Mandalika and Tanjung Lesung are aimed at a million visits or more, while Lido and Kura-Kura Bali are in the hundreds of thousands. The minister linked the Kura-Kura Bali figure to the start of operations at its outlets, which is a stage not yet completed. Comparing these goals with the wider tourism picture in Bali calls for care. The overall flow of foreign guests to the island is counted in millions a year, and the figure for one zone is only a share of it. The statement does not explain how the economic value and foreign exchange numbers were calculated, so treat them as government benchmarks. The source holds no confirmed 2026 results for the zones.
Investment and jobs
The minister also pointed to the overall SEZ trend. Cumulative investment in the zones is growing in step with job creation, and officials use this as an argument for developing the zones further. The source does not say how much of the Rp46 trillion over nine months went to tourism zones specifically.
The wider SEZ picture
Indonesia currently has 25 special economic zones. They include 13 industrial, six tourism, two health, one digital, two technology and education zones and one for other services. Since their creation the zones have drawn cumulative investment of Rp382.1 trillion, about US$21.2 billion.
Over the first nine months of 2026, realized investment came to Rp46 trillion, about US$2.5 billion, and the zones added 53,000 jobs.