Govt asked to give clear infofmation on bird flu

Govt asked to give clear infofmation on bird flu

Urip Hudiono, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Tourism industry players have called on the government to be more
transparent in informing the public about the bird flu outbreak
to avoid confusion that could be harmful to the industry.

Although the country's tourism sector is yet to experience a
significant impact from the outbreak, Indonesian Hotel and
Restaurants Association (PHRI) chairwoman Yanti Sukamdani
Hardjoparkoso said the industry could face another downturn as it
did in 2003 -- when Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS)
swept across Asia, including Indonesia -- if the government
failed to seriously handle the situation.

"Look at what happened to Ragunan Zoo," Yanti told The Jakarta
Post on Friday. "People may never want to visit the zoo again
after the government was so wishy-washy about whether the place
was safe from bird flu or not."

The government closed down the zoo in South Jakarta for 21
days starting Sept. 19 after they found 19 birds in the 140-
hectare zoo had been infected with bird flu.

Four people with bird flu have died since July and two
children died this week after showing symptoms of the virus.

Yanti said the government needed to assess the situation and
take preventive measures -- including specifying tourist
destinations that should be avoided for the meantime -- rather
than waiting for a tourist to fall ill, which would only do the
tourism industry more harm.

"Tourists are actually more afraid of -- and more likely to be
traumatized -- by the outbreak of a disease than a terror attack,

"It is always more difficult and costly to restore the good
image of a tourist destination afterward, than (to take measures)
before it is tarnished," she said.

Similarly, the Association of Indonesian Tour and Travel
Agencies (ASITA) chairwoman Meity Robot said the government
needed to step up its efforts in preventing and tackling the bird
flu outbreak, before it worsened and really turned into another
nightmare for the tourism sector.

"The government must, most importantly, provide clearer and
more complete information on the situation to the public and be
resolute in taking preventive measures against the outbreak," she
said.

The government has been hoping to attract six million foreign
tourists this year, which would generate US$5.8 billion in
foreign exchange from the industry -- higher than last year's 5.3
million tourists and $5 billion in revenues.

The number of foreign arrivals during the year's first seven
months was 2.45 million, according to the Central Statistics
Agency, down 4.08 percent from the same period in 2004.

Minister of Culture and Tourism Jero Wacik told Dow Jones
Newswire that the bird flu outbreak would bring little affect to
the tourism sector. He was still upbeat that the country's
tourism sector would meet its target.

Indonesia's tourism sector has been in the doldrums since the
Bali bombings in 2002, and terror attacks on the JW Marriott
Hotel and the Australian Embassy, both in South Jakarta, the
following years, scared off potential tourists.

At the same time, a series of SARS and influenza epidemics in
the region, as well as the Dec. 26 tsunami, made things worse for
the sector.

The occupancy rates of hotels in the country dropped from an
average of 55 percent to 30 percent during the SARS outbreak,
PHRI said.

Despite the government's earlier warning that the outbreak
could turn into an epidemic, several foreign embassies are yet to
issue travel advisories to their citizens concerning the bird
flu.

The Japanese Embassy has notified Japanese citizens of the
bird flu outbreak, but it has not issued an advisory suggesting
they defer travel to the country."There are no plans to issue a
travel warning yet," an embassy official said.

Elizabeth O'Neill of the Australian Embassy said her
government had asked -- in its latest travel bulletin --
Australians residing in avian-influenza-affected areas not to
panic and to take precautionary measures.

"We will continue to keep close contact with the Indonesian
government and the World Health Organization, and update
Australian citizens about the situation," she said.

There are more Japanese and Australian tourists here than
visitors of any other nationality.