Govt urged to cut expo permit red tape

JAKARTA (JP): The Association of Indonesian Convention and Exhibition Organizers urged the government yesterday to simplify licensing procedures in the exhibition and convention business.

The association's chairman, Dwi Karsono, said exhibition and convention organizers should be required to get a permit only from the Ministry of Trade and Industry, instead of several from other government agencies as it the requirement now.

"Unless we display imported items which would need to be authorized by other agencies, we should have been able to conduct an exhibition without having to go through the red tape," he said.

Exhibition organizers have to get permits from government agencies including the Ministry of Tourism, Post and Telecommunications, the Ministry of Education and Culture, the city administration and the police before holding an exhibition or convention.

Speaking at the sideline of the association's first annual meeting, Dwi also called on the government to treat its members equally.

There was a practice of people in senior bureaucrats urging their subordinates to stop issuing permits to other organizers to support exhibitions related to their agencies, he said.

For example, if a government-supported company was conducting a furniture exhibition, which was not drawing many participants, no other furniture exhibitions would be allowed during the four months before and the two months after the exhibition, he said.

"The practice of protecting certain companies is not only unfair and unprofessional, but also causes losses to both the related businesses and the exhibition organizers," he said.

The conduct also created idleness in the exhibition industry, he said.

The association has 117 members, 96 percent of which are local, Dwi said.

Last year, 97 product exhibitions were held in Indonesia. Dwi estimated there would be 131 events this year.

The Director General of Tourism, Andi Mappi Sammeng, said conventions and exhibitions had attracted many foreign visitors.

Last year, about 20 percent of the five million foreigners who visited Indonesia were here on business and convention trips, Andi said.

"The number is expected to increase by 10 percent this year," he said.

He said his office was encouraging the association's members to organize international conventions all across Indonesia to support tourism.

"Visitors for business conventions normally spend about two and a half times more than regular tourists because they usually have more money," he said.

The visitors normally stayed between five and seven days spent an average of US$3,000 during their stay, while regular tourists would only spend between $1,000 and $1,200 for a five-day stay, he said. (02)