Create more tourist attractions: Joop<\/p>\n
JAKARTA (JP): Minister of Tourism, Post and Telecommunications
\nJoop Ave has called on tourism-oriented investors to focus on the
\nestablishment of new tourist attractions, saying they are
\ncurrently concentrating too heavily on the hotel business.<\/p>\n
"Establishing new tourist attractions is important, because
\nforeign visitors do not come to Indonesia for the hotels but for
\ntourist destinations and attractions," Joop said at his office
\nafter presenting awards to the winners of a student tourism
\nphotography contest.<\/p>\n
He said Indonesia's tourist industry would be much more
\ndeveloped if businessmen prepared more tourist attractions in
\nvarious locations.<\/p>\n
He said his office and the ministry of education and culture
\nwould pioneer some projects, including the refurbishment of two
\npalaces in Surakarta, Central Java.<\/p>\n
In cooperation with several private firms, the state-owned
\ntemple management company PT Taman Wisata Candi Borobudur,
\nPrambanan dan Ratu Boko will also soon start a multi-media
\nproject near Borobudur temple in Central Java, he said.<\/p>\n
"The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural
\nOrganization gave its support to the idea after Indonesia
\nexplained the plan, which will be carried out by Son et Lumiere
\nof France," he said, adding words of praise for the private firms
\nwhich will participate in the project.<\/p>\n
Earlier, the US$15 million project, which involves leading
\nentrepreneurs Mooryati Sudibyo, Murdaya and Jan Darmadi, was the
\nsubject of strong objections from an international heritage
\ncommittee.<\/p>\n
According to Joop, a private firm in East Java is planning the
\ndevelopment of a tourist attraction to be called "Window on the
\nWorld" in Prigen, East Java. The attraction consist of models of
\nmore than 100 internationally-famous buildings, 21 of which will
\nbe actual size, on a 100-hectare plot which will include a hotel,
\na golf course and other facilities.<\/p>\n
Joop said that the $125 million project will be prepared by
\nHari Susilo, a businessmen who runs the Finna crisp manufacturer
\nin East Java.<\/p>\n
Hilton<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, businessman Ponco Sutowo said yesterday that his
\ncompany, PT Indobuilco, which owns the Jakarta Hilton
\nInternational hotel, recently signed a deal with Hilton
\nInternational to set up a subsidiary in Indonesia.<\/p>\n
"The new company will be owned equally by Indobuilco and
\nHilton International. We are now waiting for a license from the
\nInvestment Coordinating Board," Ponco told reporters after
\nattending a seminar here yesterday.<\/p>\n
Joop said recently that the government would require foreign
\nhotel management firms to establish subsidiaries in Indonesia if
\nthey wanted to operate hotels here.<\/p>\n
More than 40 international hotel management chains currently
\noperate in Indonesia.<\/p>\n
Problems at hotels, such as strikes and taxation disputes,
\ncannot be solved immediately in cases where the management firm
\nhas no base in Indonesia. Most of the problems are then resolved
\nby the companies which own the hotels.<\/p>\n
Ponco, who is also chairman of the Indonesian Hotel and
\nRestaurant Association, said that his proposed joint-venture
\ncompany will manage the three existing Hilton hotels in Indonesia
\n-- the Jakarta Hilton International, Patra Surabaya Hilton in
\nSurabaya, East Java, and the Bali Hilton International in Nusa
\nDua, Bali. (icn)<\/p>",
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