Holidayers prefer domestic packages

Holidayers prefer domestic packages

JAKARTA (JP): The depreciation of the rupiah against the U.S.
dollar has badly affected business for tour and travel agencies
in the city as people prefer to take domestic rather than
overseas tour packages.

Deddy Souhoka of Zamrud Holiday which operates Iwata
Nusantara, Blue Swan and Sejati tour and travel agencies said on
Saturday that he used to see 60 percent of his customers taking
overseas tour packages.

The number, however, has dropped by 20 percent as more people
took the domestic tour packages since the rate of the rupiah to
the dollar climbed to over Rp 10,000.

"How really bad the effect is of the hike in the dollar
exchange rate on overseas tour packages, we will see in July," he
told The Jakarta Post.

Zamrud Holiday was one of 80 tour and travel agencies and
airlines taking part in the Holiday Expo, held at the Jakarta
International Convention Center (JICC) from May 4 to May 6.

A number of expo participants, including Istana Tour, Shilla
Tour, Jatra Tour, Avia Tour and Puri Tour also complained about
the sharp drop in customers who joined overseas trips. They said,
sales dropped by an average of 20 percent since the depreciation
of the rupiah from Rp 9,000 to Rp 11,000 against the U.S. dollar.

Branch manager of Golden Sahara Tour, Shella Setiani, said
they now relied on business travel, which was not affected much
by the increase in the dollar exchange rate.

"Unlike tour packages, business travel cannot be postponed
until a lower dollar exchange rate," she said.

Like businesspeople, there are others who still have great
interest in traveling overseas, not to do business, but to study.

The depreciation of the rupiah against the dollar has not
seemed to discourage their interest in studying abroad due to
their strong belief in the quality of overseas education.

"I believe that if my daughter studies overseas, she will
develop a broad vision and gain international experience,
compared to what she could obtain at a local university,"
housewife Rosiana said.

She was seeking information on overseas university education
at the Education, Training and Technology Expo 2001, also held at
JICC, from May 3 to May 6.

Bambang, a father who was also accompanying his daughter at
the Germany pavilion, said that he was disappointed with the
national education system and said there was no hope of his
daughter getting a good education at a local university.

"When I was at university, Malaysia sent its students to study
in Indonesia. But now, it is the reverse. What does that mean to
you, what do you get from local schools?" he questioned.

Germany, which presented 15 of its 350 higher education
institutions in the exhibition, is home to most of Indonesian
students abroad, chairman of German Alumni Association M. Riza
Tadjoedin boasted.

Between 1,000 and 2,000 Indonesians come to Germany to study
annually, according to Riza.

Head of German Embassy's Cultural Department Peter Finger told
the Post that the number of Indonesian students who studied in
Germany increased by 10 percent annually despite the economic
crisis.

He added that since the early 1950s there had been 18,000
Indonesian graduates of German universities who now worked in
various fields.

He said the number of self-supporting students from Indonesia,
who profit from the absence of school fees at most German
educational institutions, had also steadily increased in the past
two years.

Meanwhile, Director of German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD)
Renate Schonhagen said only 10 out of the 350 educational
institutions in Germany collected school fees from students as
they were run privately.

"If Indonesian students plan to study in Germany, they just
need to prepare their own monthly living allowance which ranges
from US$500 to $600 for a modest lifestyle," she told the Post.

The 15 universities grouped in the German pavilion used
English as the medium of study.(01)