THE REPUBLİC OF INDONESİA: A TOURİSM GEOGRAPHY PERSPECTİVE

Abstract

The Republic of Indonesia, the world’s largest Muslim-majority country, is simultaneously a Southeast Asian state, an archipelagic nation, and a member of ASEAN. Extending across the Malay Archipelago and New Guinea, Indonesia occupies a strategic position as a natural geographical bridge between Asia and Australia. It shares land borders with Malaysia, Papua New Guinea, and Timor-Leste, and maritime borders with Singapore, Vietnam, Thailand, the Philippines, Australia, Palau, and India. Comprising more than 17,500 islands, 36 provinces, and two special administrative regions, Indonesia is the world’s largest archipelagic state and the fourth most populous country, with a total area of 1,904,569 km².

This tourism-geography-oriented study analyzes Indonesia’s physical and human geographical characteristics and evaluates its agricultural, industrial, energy, and tourism potential. The primary objective is to develop a national identity profile and to present the country’s tourism resources within a geographical framework. Given the limited number of studies on Indonesian geography in the domestic academic literature, this research aims to contribute to the field by offering an integrated assessment of Indonesia’s geographical features and tourism profile.