Holidays fail to boost tourism<\/p>\n
Fabiola Desy Unidjaja, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta<\/p>\n
The government policy on extended holidays has failed to boost
\ntourism as it is not supported by sufficient transportation
\ninfrastructure or promotion to persuade domestic tourists to
\ntravel, a practitioner says.<\/p>\n
Chairwoman of the Association of Indonesian Tour and Travel
\nAgencies (ASITA) Meity Robot said on Sunday the policy managed to
\nonly slightly increase the number of tourists to Indonesia.<\/p>\n
"Some of the problems are related to limited seat
\navailability: How can you go on holiday if all flights and trains
\nare fully booked?" Meity asked The Jakarta Post on Sunday.<\/p>\n
She further pointed to the lack of coordination between
\nairlines and hotels to create attractive holiday packages for
\nvacationers.<\/p>\n
"It seems that we do not speak the same language in boosting
\nthe tourism industry," the businesswoman said.<\/p>\n
Since the Bali bombings in October 2002, the government has
\ndecided to prolong or shift national holidays to create long
\nweekends. The decision was meant to persuade domestic tourists to
\ntake holidays and visit domestic tourist resorts around the
\ncountry.<\/p>\n
For 2004, the government has decided to continue the policy by
\nannouncing nine long weekends through the year.<\/p>\n
Coordinating Minister for Social Welfare Jusuf Kalla claimed
\nthat the decision was based on resurrecting the tourism industry
\nfollowing the adoption of the policy in 2003, although he did not
\nhave any data that showed an increase.<\/p>\n
He maintained the decision was needed not just to boost
\ntourism, but to improve the work efficiency of civil servants.<\/p>\n
Meity admitted that the extended holidays had done a favor to
\nthe tourism industry when Asia was hardest hit by Severe Acute
\nRespiratory Syndrome (SARS). The outbreak prevented Indonesians
\nfrom traveling aboard, she said.<\/p>\n
However, as soon as it eased, countries such as Singapore,
\nTaiwan and Hongkong, which were among the worst SARS-infected
\ncountries, began to promote their own tourist industries in a
\nmore aggressive way than ever before, Meity said.<\/p>\n
"They have offered packages that we cannot compete with;
\ntogether with the lack of transportation seats, people are likely
\nto choose to travel abroad rather than to other parts of the
\ncountry," she added.<\/p>\n
She said that it would be unfair to say that the decision was
\nfruitless, but it required much more support to boost the number
\nof domestic tourists.<\/p>\n
"We have produced attractive packages and are actively
\npromoting them to attract both domestic and foreign tourists;
\notherwise, many players will just go out of business," Meity
\nremarked.<\/p>",
"url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/holidays-fail-to-boost-tourism-1447893297",
"image": ""
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"sponsor": "Okusi Associates",
"sponsor_url": "https:\/\/okusiassociates.com"
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