Indonesia to host world tourism conference

Indonesia to host world tourism conference

JAKARTA (JP): Indonesia will host a large-scale international
tourism conference in cooperation with the Pacific Asia Travel
Association (PATA) in the year 2000, says Joop Ave, Minister of
Tourism, Post and Telecommunications.

"According to a study completed by PATA, the organization
needs to improve its targets of developments in the future," Joop
told reporters after signing an agreement with Minister of
Agriculture Sjarifudin Baharsjah on plantation development.

Joop, also PATA's chairman for the 1994-95 period, said that
the international tourism conference is just one of the
organization's long-term strategy to promote their agenda.

"I proposed Indonesia's plan to host the conference at the
meeting of PATA's board of directors and management committee in
Manila last week. Tourism ministers, as well as executives of
tourism-related organizations, all over the world will be invited
to the conference," he said.

"Indonesia will hopefully get official approval to host the
international event at PATA's annual conference in April in
Auckland, New Zealand," he said.

He said the Manila meeting also designated Singapore as the
permanent location of PATA's annual travel mart, which will be
effective as of 1998.

For the time being, PATA's travel marts are held in various
countries, he said.

Joop said PATA also recommended Manila to host the
association's 48th annual conference in 1998.

PATA's 55th annual conference will be held in Auckland this
year, the 56th conference in Bangkok next year and the 57th in
Beijing in 1997.

Under the agreement signed by the two ministers yesterday, the
Ministry of Tourism, Post and Telecommunications will channel
financial aid to farmers living in the eastern part of the
country. The aid comes from the funds collected from portions of
the profits of state-owned companies overseen by the ministry.

The government has obliged all state companies to allocate up
to five percent of their after-tax profits for the promotion of
the development of small businesses and cooperatives.

All state firms supervised by the ministry have so far
allocated a total of Rp 64.44 billion, of which Rp 44.52 billion
(69 percent) was given to 5,057 small businesses and
cooperatives.

In yesterday's ceremony, the state-owned domestic
telecommunications operator PT Telkom and postal service Perum
Pos dan Giro also signed agreements with six firms which develop
six small-scale projects in Irian Jaya, Maluku, South Sulawesi,
East Timor and West and East Nusa Tenggara.(icn)