Association bemoans fall in tourist numbers

Association bemoans fall in tourist numbers

JAKARTA (JP): An executive of the Jakarta chapter of the
Indonesian Guides Association expressed concern Saturday that
foreign media reports on Indonesia had caused a sharp drop in the
number of overseas tourists visiting the city.

Jan L. Simandjuntak said the strength of the U.S. dollar
against the rupiah should have attracted foreign tourists here
but that negative reports on the country had discouraged visits.

"More and more foreigners have hesitated to come here because
they think there is wide-spread starvation throughout the country
just because they've seen people queuing for free food on
television," said Jan.

"The reports have led many of them to believe that the country
has become so poor that beggars will tug on their clothes for
money to buy food as soon as they step out of their hotel," he
said.

Jan also deplored reports on the country's political
developments aired by international news programs such as CNN and
NHK, which he believed provided biased and exaggerated coverage.

"Those reports have also influenced many foreigners to think
that there is no more security in this country because there are
many demonstrations staged throughout the country," he said.

He said some foreigners had delayed plans to visit Indonesia
because they were afraid of flying into the country while thick
smoke from prolonged forest fires in Kalimantan persisted.

Jan strongly urged the Ministry of Information to counter the
imbalanced reports in order to salvage the country's tourist
industry.

Data from the city's office of tourism shows that the number
of foreign tourist arrivals to Jakarta alone dropped 9 percent to
125,000 in January, while arrivals totaled only 115,000 in
February and 102,350 in March.

The number of foreign tourists visiting Jakarta in the first
six months of last year totaled 712,022, down from 815,881 in the
corresponding period in 1996.

Last year's drop in the number of foreign tourist arrivals was
apparently caused by fears over unrest before the May general
election.

Jan said the drop had affected the tourist industry's income.

"The monthly income of tourist guides has dropped by an
average of between 40 percent and 50 percent," he said.

A tourist guide in Jakarta can earn about Rp 5,000 to Rp
40,000 per day on average from the city's travel agents.

"Guides in North Sumatra have lost up to 65 percent of their
incomes due to the decline in tourists there," he said.

Tourist guides in Jakarta have lost about Rp 40 percent of
their monthly incomes, while those in Bali earn about 30 percent
less today, he added.

A female tourist guide, who asked for anonymity, said travel
agents should pay guides better, at least in accordance with the
standard wage of Rp 80,000 a day established by the association.

Another tourist guide, Heben Ezer, said tourist guiding
activities had declined in line with the drop in the number of
visiting tourists.

"We usually work about 20 to 25 days a month, visiting various
areas mostly in overland packages. Now we only work for between
five and 10 days a month," he said. (cst)