Fantastic entrance fee

During my last visit to Yogyakarta with guests from Europe, we went on a tour of the lesser known temples at Prambanan. As usual, such a visit is a real treat for art lovers worldwide who flock to Indonesia to admire these wonders of civilization. Nevertheless, one detail made the visit somewhat bitter. Both in Prambanan and in Borobudur, we were confronted with the fact that admission fees for foreigners had promptly been raised by 400 percent, which, I imagine, must put lots of tour operators in an awkward position toward their clients.

Whereas one can fully agree with charging a high fee for visiting world famous monuments (including the hundreds of illegal hawkers who manage to make the visit a real ordeal), the manner and timing of the fee hikes are unfortunate. Another detail choked me: the new tickets mention the price in U.S. dollars, which clearly is illegal in Indonesia. Confronted with my question of which exchange rate they wished to apply, the attendants were at a complete loss. In the end, a price in rupiah was "negotiated".

Last but not least, I discovered that the new rate of US$5 is also being applied at Ratu Boko, a delightful but rather unknown monument. I checked the guest book and saw that since Aug. 1, an average of six foreign tourists visited this site each day. No doubt the introduction of the exceedingly high entrance fee played a role in the decline of visitors to the site.

It is sad that the management of these sites do not encourage visits to these lesser known temples. It would, for instance, be highly recommendable to include a visit to Ratu Boko and/or other sites with the Prambanan ticket, so that people would be aware of its existence and go there (a huge concrete infrastructure is already in place). This would greatly benefit a more balanced tourism in the area and allow tourists to visit wonderfully quiet sites in a beautiful countryside.

PETER CLAES

Jakarta