Govt simplifies procedures to run tourist business
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)