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)