Indonesia appoints marketing guru Philip Kotler as tourism ambassador

Marketing guru Philip Kotler has been appointed 'Wonderful Indonesia Ambassador', reports Indonesian news agency Antara. 

Kotler is professor of International Marketing at the Kellogg School of Management. He is the author of 57 books, according to his profile on the school's website, and his textbooks on marketing are used in business schools around the world.

He also runs the Kotler Marketing Group that lists global companies such as Abbott Labs, American Express, ExxonMobil, IBM, McDonald's, and Pfizer as clients. 

In a statement, Indonesia's Minister of Tourism Arief Yahya acknowledged Kotler's work to promote the Indonesian island of Komodo and called on the marketing expert to speak about Wonderful Indonesia to the world. 

'Wonderful Indonesia' is the state's official tourism promotional campaign. 

As part of this bigger campaign, Indonesia's government started focusing on promoting what it calls 'Sharia tourism' in 2013 when it started working on guidelines with the national Ulema Council (MUI) to develop Shariah guidelines for four sectors: hotels, restaurants, travel agents, and spas.