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)