Anarchic actions driving tourists away: Minister
Anarchic actions driving tourists away: Minister
JAKARTA (JP): The Ministry of Culture and Tourism closed the
year with a pledge to boost tourism promotion and repair the
country's tarnished public image resulting from recent anarchic
actions which have "effectively driven the foreigners away",
Minister I Gde Ardika said.
"We are still suffering from the consequences of these radical
mob actions. For instance, many reservations to annual tourism
and sports events as well as cruise stopovers have been
canceled," Ardika said at a year-end media briefing on Tuesday
evening.
The country has seen a wave of extreme actions over the past
few months targeted against foreigners.
Ardika specifically mentioned "sweeping operations" in tourist
sites and hotels conducted by Muslim groups in Surakarta, Central
Java, early last month.
The world used to think that the country was just going
through a rough transition towards democracy, marred by internal
disputes and communal conflicts, he said.
"But once those groups started to take action directly against
foreigners, it changed the whole thing. What they did was to
confirm the image that Indonesia was no longer a secure place for
tourists," he lamented.
"Actually our country is safe and we have lots of places that
are worth visiting," he added.
The minister also pointed out that a United States travel
advisory following the incident in Surakarta further aggravated
the matter.
"We hope that such anarchic actions will not take place again.
People may state their opinions but not through violence. Strong
law enforcement is needed and all such cases must be separated
from politics and treated as criminal cases," Ardika asserted.
After a miserable year in 1999, the total number of foreign
tourists this year is expected to reach over 5.05 million, an
increase of about 6.83 percent over the previous year.
Tourism brought in an estimated US$3.47 billion between
January and October.
"We had a rough year with riots in Mataram (West Nusa
Tenggara) earlier this year and many other incidents, but thank
God we managed to pull through," Ardika said.
The positive trend is expected to continue next year with an
estimated increase in foreign tourist arrivals of at least the
same order as this year.
The ministry has earmarked around Rp 50.1 billion of its Rp
149.7 billion budget for 2001 specifically for tourism promotion.
The ministry also has a new directorate general for culture
which previously was under the coordination of the ministry of
national education.
"We are also working on marine tourism with six other related
ministries. We have a joint team to work on this," Ardika added.
"This year we will focus on good governance and a shift from a
centralized to a community-development culture and tourism
schemes, especially given the upcoming regional autonomy." (edt)