31 countries join in annual travel mart in Jakarta

JAKARTA (JP): Over 100 firms with tourist interests from 31 countries will participate in the annual Tourism Indonesia Mart & Expo (TIME) to be held here this week.

The event will be held at the Jakarta Convention Center from Tuesday (today) through Saturday.

Participating countries include Australia, Austria, Switzerland, the United States, England, Germany, Belgium and Canada.

TIME's steering committee chairwoman Meity Robot said on Monday that the East Timor issue had not affected registration of foreign participants at the event.

"None of the registered buyers canceled their participation because of the issue. The number of participants kept on increasing, even after the East Timor issue exploded last month," she said.

Meity said that 130 buyers, representing the 109 companies, had confirmed their attendance.

She said the fact that this year's event attracted more participants was substantial proof of the non-significant impact of the East Timor issue to the tourist industry.

"We have more buyers (130) and more countries (31) this year, compared to only 120 buyers from 25 countries who attended last year's event. We even have three delegations from Australia."

She said at least 15 percent of the buyer groups were new participants, including delegations from Bangladesh, Estonia, Finland, Poland as well as the three Australian groups.

The three Australian delegations are Santosa Travel Service, San Michele Travel and the Travel & Leisure Company.

Seven buyer delegations from Australia participated in TIME 1998. But Meity denied a suggestion that the reduction in the number of Australian delegations reflected the cooling diplomatic relationship between the two countries over the East Timor issue.

She acknowledged, however, that two Australian experts scheduled to speak at a seminar had withdrawn their participation due to security concerns.

She said East Timor would also participate in the event as a seller in collaboration with the East Nusa Tenggara province.

Some 180 seller delegations from 20 provinces in the country will attend the event.

TIME 1999 will comprise two main components: the Jakarta Hotel & Restaurant Show, which will be a major trade and consumer tourist exposition featuring products and services for the hotel and restaurant industry, and the Jakarta International Festival (JAKFEST), where cultural events from seven country participants -- Mexico, Russia, Peru, India, South Korea, Vietnam and Indonesia -- will be held.

The cultural shows, which are free and open to public, will be held at the Plenary Hall of the Jakarta Convention Center, Gedung Kesenian Jakarta in Central Jakarta and Taman Anggrek Mall in West Jakarta throughout the four-day event.

A seminar on the ecotourism potential in Indonesia and a panel discussion titled On the Road to Recovery in Tourism sector will be held separately on Sept. 21 and Sept. 22 at the Jakarta Convention Center.

The event will also have sessions during which buyers and sellers can meet in order to forge new networks.

"We hope more transactions will occur this year. We are targeting at least a 10 percent increase in the transaction values this year," Meity said. TIME 1998 recorded about US$1.3 million in transactions, much lower than the $8.7 million in 1997.

TIME is a collaboration between the Indonesian Tourism Promotion Board, the capital administration, the directorate general of tourism, the Indonesian Hotel & Restaurants Association, national flag carrier Garuda Indonesia and the Casa Grande hotel chain. (cst)