Haze adds to RI's tourist industry woes
Haze adds to RI's tourist industry woes
JAKARTA (JP): The haze problem poses another blow to the
country's tourism industry, a senior official of the Ministry of
Tourism, Post and Telecommunications said here yesterday.
Tourism Director General Andi Mappi Sammeng said the growth of
foreign tourist arrivals, which dropped significantly during the
political campaign, a month before May's general election, would
plunge further due to the thick smog.
"The haze is not only a national disaster, it has become an
international disaster and this will badly affect our tourist
sector," he said.
Andi's statement contradicted his optimism a day before when
he said tourism would recover before the end of the year despite
the haze and this year's abnormal sluggish growth.
The number of foreign visitors grew by only 2.6 percent during
this year's first half, the lowest in 30 years, well below the
average 10 percent.
The government targets foreign tourists to increase by 12
percent to 5.7 million foreign tourists this year.
According to official data, foreign tourists increased by 2.6
percent to 2.42 million in the first semester of this year.
The Indonesian Tourism Promotion Board estimated the number of
foreign tourists would increase by 5 percent, well below the
initial 12 percent target.
Andi said he was not worried about the latest warning by the
United States, British and Australian governments to travelers to
smog-hit areas, saying it was just a common precaution taken by
developed countries to protect themselves.
"Every developed country will issue such an alert about
another country in a particular situation so they will not be
sued for neglecting to protect their citizens," he said.
The British, United States and Australian governments have
cautioned travelers to smog-hit areas, classifying areas from
"very unhealthy" to "dangerous".
The forest fires in Kalimantan and Sumatra have spread choking
smog to six countries in the region, causing widespread
respiratory problems. President Soeharto officially declared the
smog problem a national disaster Thursday.
However, Andi said Indonesia's main tourist destinations
namely Java, Bali and Lombok remain unaffected by the haze.
"Most of the hysteria about Indonesia now is caused by
international media reports," he said.
He said many Europeans, for example, assumed that Indonesia
was as small as their countries, and that the haze would affect
the whole country.
He said the department of tourism requested Indonesia's
diplomatic and tourism representatives abroad help regain
international confidence in Indonesia's tourism.
He said the representatives would explain to foreign countries
that the haze did not affect all parts of Indonesia, such as the
three main destinations and other areas like South Sumatra and
North Sulawesi. (das)