ASEAN Tourism Forum will be held on time

Israr Ardiansyah, The Jakarta Post, Yogyakarta

The construction of the Yogyakarta Exhibition and Convention Center (YECC) building that will be used as the venue for the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) Tourism Forum 2002 in January is nearly complete.

Bambang Susanto Priyohadi, the Yogyakarta provincial secretary, told The Jakarta Post on Wednesday that technically the project, which started last July, was 93 percent complete. "Therefore, the 10,000 square-meter complex will be ready for the big events which will take place from Jan. 21 to Jan. 28."

The project has swallowed a total of Rp 42.5 billion, Rp 9 billion of which was from the Yogyakarta 2001 provincial budget and the rest was from the central government budget, Bambang said.

He said that a 1,000 KVA (or 1 megawatt) power generator had been installed in the complex and the air-conditioning system was ready.

"As many as 100 new telephone lines have also been installed," he said, adding that residents living around the building also benefited from the project because another 100 new telephone lines had also been distributed to them, thanks to the project.

The YECC complex is located in Wonocatur village in the district of Banguntapan, some six kilometers east of the heart of Yogyakarta.

The ASEAN Tourism Forum (ATF) is a joint forum to promote ASEAN countries as travel destinations.

The ASEAN member countries include Brunei Darussalam, Cambodia, Indonesia, Lao PDR, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam.

ATF 2002 will be chaired by Yogyakarta governor Sultan Hamengkubuwono X, and will cover a series of events including the meeting of the ASEAN Communications Team for Tourism (ACTT), ASEAN Task Forces, The National Tourism Organizations (NTOs), The ASEAN Tourism Associations (ASEANTA) and also The ASEAN Travel Exchange (TRAVEX).

Almost 600 companies from 44 countries in the world, including ASEAN, have registered for the TRAVEX seminar and have confirmed their participation in the event.

The ASEAN Tourism Forum was established in 1981 in Malaysia and has since been held annually. Each of the member countries takes turns hosting the forum based on alphabetical order.