Govt to focus on Australian tourists

Tantri Yuliandini, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

The government would focus its marketing and promotion on Asia and Australia next year to make up for the decrease in the number of visitors from the United States and Europe, the State Minister of Culture and Tourism I Gede Ardika said Friday.

Ardika, speaking during a year-end media conference, said one of the results of the Sept. 11 attacks on the U.S. was the drop in the number of tourists from long haul destinations such as Europe.

"The World Tourism Organization even predicted that there would be a 30 percent decrease in world tourism as an after effect of the attacks," he said, adding that to avoid such a drastic decrease the government needed to shift its focus to short and medium haul destinations.

The government had expected between 5.4 million and 5.8 million foreign visitors next year, compared to 5.1 million visitors in 2000.

However, total foreign visitors as of October this year stood at 3.6 million people, meaning that the government would not be able to achieve its target this year.

Setyanto P. Santoso, head of the newly established Culture and Tourism Development Board (BP-Budpar), said that the government would refocus on regional markets and more aggressively promote Indonesia tourism there.

"There are about 500 million people in the ASEAN region, some 20 to 30 percent of which can afford to travel. That's the market that we need to reach," he said in the media conference, citing that some 50 percent of Malaysia's population alone could afford to travel.

Ardika also said that taking advantage of the World Tourism Organization's declaration that 2002 be a world ecotourism year and world mountain year, the government would also boost the development of its ecotourism and mountain tourism products.

"We will develop land and sea based ecotourism and we will adjust the mountain theme to volcanoes, because Indonesia is a land of volcanoes," he said.

As pilot projects the government will prepare tourist spots such as the Ujung Kulon national park in West Java, the Bunaken coral reef reservation in North Sulawesi, and the Merapi volcano in Central Java.

Also, to improve the country's image -- much dented by years of upheavals, riots, and most recently by sweepings against American citizens -- the government has arranged the showing of a special television advertisement on CNN and BBC in December, and on Malaysia's TV3 in January, Setyanto said.

"All this is important because tourism is the second biggest contributor of foreign exchange to the nation after oil and gas," he said.

Central Statistics Bureau research shows that foreign and domestic tourists spent Rp 132.79 trillion (about US$13.3 billion) in Indonesia last year.