Govt must help ailing tourist industry: ASITA

M. Taufiqurrahman, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

A tour and travel association is calling on the government to take immediate measures to salvage the tourist industry which has been experiencing a downturn due to the spread of the Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) and the global threat of terrorist attacks.

The chairman of the Association of the Indonesian Travel and Tour Agencies (ASITA) Meity Robot said on Monday the association had sent a letter to five ministries demanding that the government issue regulations to support the ailing tourist industry.

The association sent the letter to the offices of the Coordinating Minister for the Economy, the Coordinating Minister for People's Welfare, the State Minister for Culture and Tourism, and the State Minister for State Enterprises as well as the Ministry of Manpower and Transmigration.

"Among our demands is that the government should reconsider its plan to revoke the visa-free facility, because if the plan materializes, tourists would be hesitant to come to this country as they would have to spend a greater sum of money," she told The Jakarta Post.

Early last month, the government issued a presidential decree to revoke the visa-free facility given to nationals of 48 countries since 1983.

Under the decree, foreigners will be granted a visa of 30 days at the port of entry upon arrival. The visa will be non- extendible and cannot be converted into another type of visa.

Meity added that the other demands in the letter included abolition of value-added tax and income tax on tour operators. She said ASITA also urged the government to abrogate departure tax for those who wanted to travel abroad.

She said that all efforts had to be focussed on rescuing the tourist industry from the adverse effects of SARS and threat of global terrorism.

"We need help from the government because most of players in the tourist industry are on the verge of bankruptcy," she said.

In the first three months of 2003, the number of tourist arrivals dropped by 13 percent over the same period last year. The number of foreign visitors is likely to decline to between 3.9 million and 4.5 million in 2003 from 5.03 million in 2002.

Separately, Rama Tirtawisata, director of tour agent Panorama Tours, said that ASITA's proposal was appropriate given the current state of the tourist industry.

"There are a number of government regulations that merely add to the woes of the tourist industry," he said.

He cited the revocation of the visa-free facility which he said would only cause harm to inbound tourism since it deterred people from entering the country.

According to Rama, the visa payment of US$50 was in fact equal to 10 percent of the total accommodation costs of the average tourist.

"ASITA's proposal, if approved by the government will definitely have a good impact on tour agents like us," he said.

Foreign visitors to Indonesia

Country: Number of visitors

in 2001

Singapore 1,477,132 Japan 611,314 Malaysia 484,692 Australia 397,982 Taiwan 391,696 South Korea 212,233 United Kingdom 189,027 U.S. 177,869 Germany 159,881 Netherlands 114,656

Source: Central Statistics Agency