Govt simplifies procedures to run tourist business

JAKARTA (JP): The government has simplified bureaucratic procedures to start tourism-related businesses as part of its efforts to put the wounded sector on the mend.

Minister of Tourism, Arts and Culture Marzuki Usman said yesterday he had signed a ministerial decree giving autonomy to regional offices of the ministry to issue permits for business operations in tourism.

"It's been signed and it is currently being enforced," Marzuki told reporters after opening a coordinated meeting of the ministry's top officials and all provincial office heads.

The decree applies to all tourism-related businesses: hotels, restaurants, marine tourism, entertainment and promotion organizers, tourism consultants, and meeting, incentives, convention and exhibition tour organizers.

Under the new ministerial decree, investors wanting to run permanent or temporary tourism-related businesses must submit their application to the relevant provincial office of the ministry.

Applications must include required permits from the local administration, including building certificates and the environmental impact analysis approval.

The head of the provincial office of the ministry can approve the requests if the businesses are shown to fulfill all the conditions and if they fit demands for investment in the areas.

But he or she can reject them if the businesses are deemed unsuitable for local needs or lack possibility for profit.

The decision process will take a maximum of 30 working days after the application is submitted.

The head of the ministry's office for the greater Jakarta area, Pudjo Basuki, hailed the new licensing system.

"Before, we only recommended the applications to the tourism director general, so all the applications from across the country are usually piled up here.

"It took a long time just to read them," he said, adding that it would take less than a week to issue permits if all the requirements were fulfilled under the new system.

Bali's regional director of the ministry, Luther Barrung, said the new system would encourage fair development in all sectors of tourism in an area, as local government officials could selectively issue the business permits.

"In Bali, for example, all sectors of tourism are still wide open for investment, but everybody associates tourism with hotels and travel agencies only, causing the two industries to grow more rapidly than others," Barrung said.

This required regular evaluation of all areas of the sector, he said.

"With regular evaluation, we could find out which areas need investment and which areas are already overly worked on." (das)