Indonesia travel mart on schedule

Indonesia travel mart on schedule

By I. Christianto

NUSA DUA, Bali (JP): Following the Bali Travel Mart here from
June 22 to June 26, Indonesia will hold the annual Travel
Indonesia Mart & Expo (TIME) for the sixth time in September as
scheduled.

TIME's steering committee chairwoman Meity Robot said on
Thursday the event would be held from Sept. 21 to Sept. 25 at the
Jakarta Convention Center.

"TIME was successfully held last year although Indonesia was
facing the economic crisis and the downturn in politics and
security. Now, TIME 1999 is a big challenge for Indonesia to
prove the country's stability."

She believed the event would be as successful as previous
year.

As an annual event, TIME is popular among international
tourist businesses and listed on the international tourism
calendar of events.

Meity said 60 percent of 250 targeted buyers and 65 percent of
an equal number of targeted sellers were registered as of last
week.

"Registered buyers are from the Netherlands, India, Spain, the
United States, Finland and France. Sellers are from Jakarta, West
Java, Central Java, Bali, Lombok and West Sumatra."

She said that buyers from new markets including eastern Europe
and the Middle East also were expected to participate in the
event.

"This year, we'll introduce a new theme emphasizing tourism
product development which concerned with the environment. Product
development with an emphasis on the environment is regarded as
very important as the future of tourism depends on the
sustainability of the environment."

She said TIME 1999 would feature Komodo as a special
attraction.

Komodo Island in eastern Indonesia is a world heritage site
and home to the Komodo Dragon, the world's largest reptile.

"A seminar also has been prepared focusing on heritage
conservation. The discussion will center on the ocean, coral
reefs and fish diversity," Meity said.

A member of the steering committee, Feisol Hashim, reiterated
that TIME would not compete with the Bali Travel Mart, also an
annual event.

"Anything you do has an impact. I won't be surprised if there
are some buyers at the Bali Travel Mart. But the two events are
complementary, and even the main sponsor is the same, Garuda
Indonesia."

He said the two events would probably be held over a longer
spread of time.

TIME is a collaboration between the Indonesian Tourism
Promotion Board (ITPB) and the capital administration.

According to Feisol, who is also an ITPB executive, the
organization has hired PT Pacto Convex, a private convention
organizer, to handle the event since ITPB is broke and saddled
with a US$18 million debt.

Pacto's managing director Susilowati Daud said that she was
optimistic that TIME 1999 would be profitable.

"We are targeting a gain of about Rp 250 million
(approximately $36,200) this year," she said, adding that the
amount would be split equally between her company and ITPB.

Last year, ITPB earned Rp 30 million in profit from the event.