Tourism bouncing back in country: Minister<\/p>\n
Syofiardi Bachyul Jb, Padang, West Sumatra<\/p>\n
A top government official said on Saturday that tourism in the
\ncountry had returned to normal after being hit hard by a series
\nof terrorist attacks, including the Bali and Marriott bombings in
\n2002 and 2003 respectively.<\/p>\n
Minister of Culture and Tourism I Gde Ardhika revealed that
\nthe number of tourists had increased since the first quarter of
\nthis year. During that period the number of foreign tourists
\ncoming to Indonesia stood at 1.3 million, or a 28 percent
\nincrease compared with the last quarter of 2003.<\/p>\n
\"It is estimated that the number of tourists will again
\nincrease by 35 percent in the second quarter of this year,\" said
\nArdhika, after opening an interisland swimming competition and
\nparagliding competition at Carocok beach, Pesisir Selatan
\nregency, West Sumatra province.<\/p>\n
He regretted that three countries imposed travel warnings that
\nsuggested their citizens not visit Indonesia, which they
\nconsidered to be a hotbed of terrorists.<\/p>\n
The countries are the United States, the United Kingdom and
\nAustralia.<\/p>\n
However, the travel warnings appear to have had no impact on
\ntourist arrivals in Indonesia. In the first quarter of this year,
\nthe number of tourists from Australia surged by 80 percent
\ncompared with the previous quarter, from the U.S. by 40 percent
\nand the United Kingdom by 30 percent.<\/p>\n
The Bali-born minister, however, did not go into detail on the
\nnumber of foreign tourists from the three countries.<\/p>\n
Ardhika said at the event that the government would make West
\nSumatra province the gate for foreign tourists wishing to visit
\nwestern Indonesia. The initiative was supported by central
\ngovernment support for the construction of Ketaping International
\nAirport in West Sumatra province, so that it could facilitate the
\nentry of tourists wishing to visit West Sumatra and other nearby
\nprovinces in Sumatra.<\/p>\n
He also said that the government-sponsored interisland
\nswimming competition and paragliding competition on July 10 and
\n11 was also part of the government effort to promote tourism in
\nthe province. The swimming competition was held at Carocok
\nbeach, participated in by 68 swimmers, 13 of whom were women.<\/p>\n
The international paragliding competition was held separately
\nat Langkisau Hill in the regency, participated in by domestic and
\ninternational paragliders, including entrants from Hongkong,
\nSingapore and Australia.<\/p>",
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"sponsor": "Okusi Associates",
"sponsor_url": "https:\/\/okusiassociates.com"
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