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)