Govt must help ailing tourist industry: ASITA
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