The Indonesian Ministry of Tourism is stepping up efforts to strengthen its Meeting, Incentive, Convention, and Exhibition (MICE) industry by organizing two flagship events in 2025: the Southeast Asia Business Events Forum (SEABEF) and the Wonderful Indonesia Tourism Fair (WITF). These events are intended to elevate Indonesia’s global standing in the MICE sector, currently ranked 37th worldwide and 10th in Asia-Pacific, and 4th in ASEAN. SEABEF will gather regional experts, policy makers, and industry players around themes of sustainability, strategic investment, and collaborative growth, while WITF will feature a large-scale tourism expo with around 300 exhibitors and 200 buyers from 40 countries, combined with business-matching and familiarization trips to Indonesia’s priority destinations.
These events are part of a broader strategy to boost the MICE sector’s contribution to Indonesia’s tourism and economy. The ministry targets raising the sector’s share from about 10% of tourism revenue today to 15% by 2029, which could create many jobs. So far, by September 2025, governmental support has been extended to 134 MICE events, engaging 95,000 workers and over 44,000 MSMEs, generating IDR 11.82 trillion in economic turnover. Through SEABEF and WITF, the ministry also aims to spotlight emerging destinations beyond Bali—like Lake Toba, Borobudur, Labuan Bajo, and Raja Ampat—thereby diversifying Indonesia’s tourism appeal and reinforcing its MICE infrastructure.
