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.