Indonesia's tourism industry hit by war

Indonesia's tourism industry hit by war

A'an Suryana and Dadan Wijaksana, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

The week-old war in Iraq has started to inflict losses on the
Indonesian tourism industry, State Minister for Tourism and
Culture I Gde Ardhika admitted on Wednesday.

"Several tourist packages, from Europe to Bali for instance,
have been canceled, due to security fears," Ardhika told
reporters after addressing a national workshop on tourism.

The cancellation was attributed to the feeling of insecurity
among tourists as their flights would pass the war zone in the
Middle East en route to Indonesia.

Bali has been the darling and barometer of the Indonesian
tourism industry.

The island has contributed a significant portion to the
country's tourism revenues. In 2001, tourism in Bali generated
US$1.4 billion or more than 25 percent of the nation's foreign
exchange revenue from the industry, which totaled $5.4 billion.

Meanwhile, despite his statement that the Iraq war had
affected the nation's tourism industry, Ardhika asserted that the
impact was not yet overly significant.

"Still, there have been many foreign travel agencies which did
not cancel their tourist packages to Bali," said Ardhika.

Even the Iraq war will not discourage participants of the 52nd
Pacific Asia Travel Association (PATA) annual conference from
attending their meeting in Bali, said Ardhika.

The meeting is scheduled to be held from April 13 to April 17
this year, with over 1,000 top level tourism and government
executives from the Asia-Pacific region and around the globe
confirming their participation.

"Some 600 participants have been registered for the meeting,
and despite the Iraq war, they have yet to cancel their trip
here," said Ardhika.

Threats of harassment and at least one confirmed incident
targeting Westerners are believed to have raised concern among
foreign tourists who had planned to visit Indonesia.

Facing such a gloomy situation, Ardhika said the government
had anticipated the decline in tourism.

With Middle East and European tourists no longer viable
markets, the government will focus on attracting potential
tourists from Southeast Asia, East Asia and Pacific regions, said
Ardhika.

An intensive campaign will be carried out, so as to invite
tourists from those regions to visit Indonesia and keep the
national tourism industry afloat, said Ardhika.

Speaking on the same occasion, Yanti Sukamdani, chairperson of
the Indonesian Hotel and Restaurant Association (PHRI), suggested
that the national tourism industry should try to attract the
domestic market.

Data shows that the number of domestic tourists reached 107
million in 2001. This year, the figure is expected to hit 133.45
million, which far exceeds the number of foreign tourists that
only stands at between 4 and 5 million annually, she said.

"Indeed, the purchasing power of domestic tourists is much
weaker than the foreign ones. However, in this difficult
situation, like it or not, we should rely our survival from
domestic tourism," she said.