Experts urge government to involve locals

Experts urge government to involve locals

JAKARTA (JP): Tourism experts and executives of tourism-
related businesses called on the new government on Wednesday to
involve local communities in developing the country's tourism.

Koesnady Hardjasoemantri, a lecturer at the Yogyakarta-based
Gadjahmada University, said the government should, for example,
involve the local communities to draft a policy to develop the
local tourism potential.

"Such involvement is needed so that communities will
understand what they have to do to support tourism development
efforts," he told a tourism workshop.

More importantly, Koesnady said, the new government should be
more open about its tourism plans in order to avoid suspicion
from local residents.

Members of the People's Consultative Assembly will elect a new
president on Oct. 20 to pave the way for the establishment of a
new government.

The current government often ignores the local residents'
rights to develop tourism and farmers are often forced to sell
their land at low prices to developers of hotels and other
recreation facilities.

"In the future, the government should promote the use of a
profit-sharing mechanism in tourism," he said. "Owners of land
used for hotels or other tourist facilities should be, for
example, entitled to a part of the shares of companies involved."

Feisol Hashim, the vice president of the Indonesian Hotel and
Restaurant Association (PHRI), also said the new government
should put more emphasis on the development of tourism.

"We need a conceptual plan to lead the industry," he said,
adding that the government should allocate a larger budget to
finance tourism campaigns and to fund human resources
development.

Tourism was shattered when the country faced the economic
crisis in 1997 with various conflicts and scandals breaking out
since May 1998.

Foreign tourist arrivals in Indonesia this year are projected
to reach between 3.9 million and 4.4 million, an increase from
the 3.5 million arrivals recorded in 1998, which was a 30 percent
drop from 5.1 million in the previous year.

In the first two months of 1999, foreign tourist arrivals
increased by 2.9 percent to 602,630 from 585,714 in the same
period the year before. Foreign exchange receipts during that
period rose slightly to US$606.2 million from $594.4 million.

Said Umar Husin, a member of the association, said at the same
forum that tourism deserved to get better attention from the
government because the sector was the most potential industry to
help the country cope with its unemployment problem. (06)