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)