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.