Biak's tourist heyday: A story of the glory days in the past

Biak's tourist heyday: A story of the glory days in the past

By Zita Meirina

BIAK, Irian Jaya (Antara): From aboard the aircraft approaching Frans Kasiepo Airport, the sprawling islands dotting a clear blue ocean are colorful, almost like rainbows.

The beautiful panorama can briefly be enjoyed before the aircraft lands on Biak Island, whose main town bears the same name.

A stroll along the clean, quiet, traffic jam-free streets of the small town of Biak will tempt visitors to explore the entire beautiful island.

Not so long ago Biak was not as quiet as it is today. Local man, Ayer, said the island once was crowded with foreign tourists.

"We had an international airport that made Biak attractive to foreign vacationers," said Ayer, who works as a driver in a private company belonging to the Djayanti Group.

He said local residents earned benefits by renting their houses, selling food or offering other services to the tourists. The foreigners came to Biak to enjoy its natural beauty, a quality which made the island one of Irian Jaya's main tourist destinations.

"The rich marine ecosystem and the landscape have a high selling point that make Biak once comparable to other tourist destinations in the country," said John Diaz, head of Biak's tourist agency.

Biak began losing foreign tourists five years ago when national flag carrier Garuda Indonesia discontinued its flight from Jakarta to Los Angeles via Biak.

Although there is no official data on foreign tourist arrivals in Biak, Sitepu, who runs the Grand Irian Tour travel bureau, is convinced the absence of foreign visitors is connected to the termination of the international flight service.

"The flight stoppage brought on severe problems for entrepreneurs who invested a lot of money in the tourist business both here and in Jayapura," he said.

Hotels built during the heyday of tourism are losing money because of intolerably low occupancy rates. Many of them are falling into disrepair.

Hoteliers are worried there is no likelihood of a turnaround in the future.

"I am lucky if five or six guests stay here. Some hotels depend for their income on sources other than rooms, such as pubs or karaoke lounges," the hotel owner said.

Biak and the other islands around it enjoyed booming benefits from tourism until 1994.

The island located to the north of the Irian mainland was a haven for divers and nature lovers from Europe, the United States, Australia and Japan.

Diaz identified many more attractions on offer. One of them is its beaches where people can watch omnipresent turtles lay eggs.

The gorgeous and a great variety of seafood also are great attractions.

Biak gained international popularity as a tourist destination in 1987 when Garuda Indonesia opened the Jakarta-Los Angeles route via Biak. International tourists came in droves.

"Many tourists fell in love at first sight with Biak's unspoiled natural beauty," Diaz said.

He said most tourists stayed for more than a week, which allowed local people to set up accommodation and transportation businesses.

Biak is accessible by both air and sea. Foreign tourists who loved traveling around from Biak to nearby islands would use the Tropical Princess, a cruiser belonging to an Indonesian businessman.

"Tropical Princes enhanced Biak's image as favorite tourism destination for affluent tourists," Diaz said.

The blooming tourist business in Biak enhanced Irian Jaya's image as a tourist destination. Many investors came to do business in the sector.

"In Biak, budget inns and star-rated hotels sprang up during the heyday," said a restaurant owner.

A lack of professionalism has always hampered development of the tourism sector in Irian Jaya. Fortunately, an observer said, tourists understand the problem and they can forgive the poor hotel services and enjoy the sun, sea and the forests.

A travel bureau owner, Sitepu, recounted the glorious days of Biak's tourism industry, "When Garuda still operated its Jakarta- Los Angeles route, we usually served between 50 and 100 foreign tourists every month."

Today, the bureau is lucky if it arranges tours for 10 foreign tourists a month, he added. For a tour either in Jayapura or Biak and its nearby islands, Grand Irian Tour offers a US$40 per day per person package. "The price is still the same now," Sitepu said.

"The natural beauty of the Biak islands is still the same as it was five or six years ago, but there's something different, now, there's no more investors wanting to come here," Diaz said.

He blamed a campaign sponsored by environmentalists which told people all over the world not to visit Biak in protest at the unchecked fish bombing in the area.

Diaz attributed the environmentally destructive fishing method to Hong Kong companies which collaborated with Indonesian enterprises. He alleged that Greenpeace was behind the move to boycott Biak.

"The impact of the campaign on the tourist industry was disastrous. Tropical Princess went bankrupt, too," Diaz said.

Investments worth billions of dollars to build hotels and restaurants and deep sea recreational facilities have been left high and dry.

Ninety percent of the rooms at Hotel Biak Marow, the only star-rated hotel in Biak built atop a cliff facing the sea, are unoccupied. Its "For Sale" sign outside is shared by many upscale restaurants which have bar and karaoke facilities.