Gripes greet low visitor turnout at tourism expo

Gripes greet low visitor turnout at tourism expo

KUTA, Bali (JP): The Bali Tourism Expo, held here as part of
the first annual Bali Travel Mart (BTM), has not succeeded in
attracting visitors, with some vendors attributing it to a lack
of promotion by the organizer.

Participants complained on Thursday that no significant number
of visitors came to Kuta Center, which is located near the
popular Kuta Beach.

"I don't understand why there's no visitors, particularly why
no buyers from the BTM came here, except at the opening ceremony
on Tuesday evening," said Toha, who opened a booth for his
experimental theater group.

He said the BTM's organizing committee promised to take BTM
participants and buyers to the expo.

Richard Menwidjaya, general manager of PT Saka Dwidewata which
operates Kuta Center, said he was aware of the complaints.

"The company dealt with the organizing committee only for Kuta
Center as a designated site for the expo. Promotion should have
been done by the organizing committee," he said.

BTM, opened by Minister of Tourism, Arts and Culture Marzuki
Usman last Tuesday, closes on Saturday. More than 200 buyers from
over 20 countries and about 200 local sellers are taking part.
The organizer invited 49 media, including 21 foreign
representatives.

The event's three main features are the Bali Tourism Expo,
which was touted as a major trade and consumer tourism exposition
featuring new products, crafts and export goods; the Bali Tourism
Forum, a one-day seminar on tourism marketing in Bali; and the
Bali Travel Exchange, where buyers and sellers come together
forge new networks.

Part of the problem may be that the expo is located in Kuta
while the other two events were in Nusa Dua. The locations are a
considerable distance apart.

BTM public relations director Lia Sunaryo said a
misunderstanding fueled the vendors' disappointment.

"I've heard about the complaints. We have told the expo
participants, however, that visits by buyers are an individual
thing, we can't force them to visit the expo, but we are
preparing shuttle buses from Nusa Dua to Kuta.

"We also told the expo participants that Kuta Center would
only be crowded at the opening ceremony, and we did that."

She said the expo was arranged to attract tourists to the Kuta
area.

"Actually, we also promoted the expo through local radio
stations in Bali long before the event."

She said there were 60 booths at the expo, with fees ranging
between Rp 3 million and Rp 10 million, "but some of them were
allowed to participate in the expo for free".

Several local and international journalists said they did not
know the expo was held nightly. (icn)