Anti-U.S. protests won't seriously harm tourism sector: Official
Anti-U.S. protests won't seriously harm tourism sector: Official
Dadan Wijaksana, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
Growing anti-U.S. sentiment at home will not seriously affect
the country's tourism as U.S. and European tourists only make up
some of the foreign arrivals, a senior official at the Ministry
of Tourism and Culture said.
"Yes, there will be an impact on tourism, but it won't be as
severe as people think," Setyanto P. Santoso, the secretary-
general of the ministry said at a news gathering on Tuesday.
"Of the total 5.2 million visitors last year, less than 20
percent were Americans and Europeans," he said.
Nevertheless, Setyanto said that his office had set up a team
called the Crisis Management Committee to seek the best way to
deal with the problem.
"The team groups experts from various fields, including
economists and academics," he said.
Setyanto said that the team had recently come up with a
strategic marketing plan: to focus promotions more on ASEAN and
East Asian countries as they have been the key contributors to
the country's tourist arrival totals each year.
"Sixty percent of last year's 5.2 million foreign arrivals
came from that region. And it has been like that for years," he
said.
Thamrin B. Bachri, the ministry's director general for
marketing, said that the tourist target of 5.4 million for this
year could be achieved by optimizing the market within the
region, not the U.S. or Europe.
"We can still achieve the target, but only if we can keep the
situation under control," he said. "If we can't, then we'll be in
the pessimistic zone."
As of August, as many as 3.6 million tourists had arrived in
the country, which was just 1.8 million short of this year's
target.
There has been concern that growing anti-U.S. sentiment here
will deter foreign tourists from visiting the country.
Following the U.S.-led military strikes launched against
Afghanistan two days ago, anti-U.S. protests have been on the
rise. The protests have been staged by small but vocal radical
groups, which earlier threatened to expel American citizens if
the U.S. proceeded with the attack plan.
This has created jitters among foreigners. On Monday, several
U.S. and British companies closed their local offices as a
precautionary measure amid threats from the radical groups.
Elsewhere, Thamrin also said that Indonesia had recently
participated in the 14th World Tourism Organization (WTO) General
Assembly held in Seoul, from Sept. 23 to Sept. 27, and Osaka,
from Sept. 28 to Oct. 1.
During the occasion, the Indonesian delegation was awarded the
"WTO Award" for the best tourism poster in Asia.