Tourism Indonesia Mart and Expo opens today<\/p>\n
JAKARTA (JP): The Tourism Indonesia Mart and Expo (TIME) is
\nscheduled to open today, with optimism and expectations running
\nhigh in the tourism industry.<\/p>\n
The event is being organized by the Indonesia Tourism
\nPromotion Board with expenditures of about Rp 3.6 billion
\n(approximately US$1.5 million). Some 190 foreign buyers from 32
\ncountries will participate in the Oct. 6 to Oct. 9 event at the
\nJakarta Convention Center.<\/p>\n
The board's managing director Wuryastuti Sunario said
\nyesterday that TIME, which is an expansion of the Tourism
\nIndonesia Mart held last year at the same location, will involve
\n180 sellers from 23 provinces, which include tour operators,
\ntravel agencies, airlines, hotels, resort management firms and
\nother tourism-related businesses.<\/p>\n
This year's event will probably see fewer buyers, about 400,
\ncompared to 217 at the 1994 mart, when contracts worth Rp 70.7
\nbillion were signed.<\/p>\n
Wuryastuti, however, said that this year's TIME will help
\nboost the tourist industry because of the many buyers from new
\nmarkets such as Brunei, Czech, South Africa, Mexico, Vietnam and
\nGreece.<\/p>\n
\"Their presence will give us a greater chance to introduce
\nIndonesia's tourism in the coming years,\" she said.<\/p>\n
Some 73 million domestic tourists are expected to travel
\nthroughout the archipelago this year, which will increase to 85
\nmillion in the year 2000.<\/p>\n
TIME, which is scheduled to become an annual event, will be
\nopened officially by Jakarta Governor Soerjadi Soedirdja today,
\nfeaturing Minister of Tourism, Post and Telecommunications Joop
\nAve as keynote speaker.<\/p>\n
Seminars<\/p>\n
The event will also feature a conference and two seminars. The
\nconference, to be held this morning, will invite Sue Mather, an
\neditor at the London-based Economist Intelligence Unit, Harold
\nGoodwin, a prominent tourism researcher and scholar, and Astrid
\nS. Sunario, a communications expert.<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, speakers at the seminars will include Fauzi Bowo,
\nthe head of the Jakarta Tourism Office, Halim Indrakusuma of
\nPacto and Jack Daniels of Bali Sea Dancer.<\/p>\n
Two speakers from Australia and Britain, Barry Mayo and David
\nKevan, are also scheduled to deliver their addresses on the
\nstrategies to attract Australian and British markets.<\/p>\n
Indonesia is developing its tourism industry to become a major
\nforeign exchange earner by the end of the Seventh Five Year
\nDevelopment Plan (Repelita VII) period in 2004. The country
\nearned $4.7 billion in revenues last year from 4,006,312 foreign
\ntourists, indicating a 17.7 percent increase from 3.4 million
\nvisitors in 1993.<\/p>\n
Going back to 1985, the tourism industry, with foreign
\nexchange earnings of $525 million, ranked sixth behind oil and
\ngas, timber, rubber, textiles and coffee. In 1993, the tourism
\nindustry ranked fourth with foreign exchange revenues of $3.35
\nbillion. The government expects some five million to 6.5 million
\nvisitors in 1998, bringing in $8.2 to $8.9 billion in foreign
\nexchange. (icn)<\/p>",
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"sponsor": "Okusi Associates",
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