Jakarta Fair warms up with visitors

Jakarta Fair warms up with visitors

Leony Aurora, Jakarta

Visitors numbers to the 2004 Jakarta Fair are rising, reaching
almost 740,000 as of Friday evening, two weeks after its opening
on June 17, organizers said.

Project director Ralph R. Schuneman said on Saturday 739,156
people had bought tickets to the fair. The figure is 13 percent
higher than the period's cumulative number of visitors of 652,402
reached last year.

"We estimate some 100,000 visitors will come tonight," he told
The Jakarta Post.

Schuneman said about Rp 120 billion (US$12.9 million) passed
hands in transactions at the fair.

Fair management Jakarta International Expo and Jakarta
Propertindo, which had organized the annual event for the first
time, expect 2.2 million visitors to turn up during the one
month-event and to generate transactions of up to Rp 250 billion.

Last year's fair drew 1,760,315 visitors and about Rp 208
billion in transactions.

An Olympic Furniture saleswoman, who did not want to be
identified, said visitors' purchasing power was low.

"So far, we have only reached 25 percent of our target," she
said last Friday.

The fair, now in its 37th year, was less crowded than in
previous years, she said. "Maybe it's because of the Euro (four-
yearly soccer championship)... It was the same in 2000."

Schuneman disputed the slow sales comments, saying it depended
much on the individual expo participants. "Last year, the first
and second weeks were slow as well, but after that the
transactions shot up," he said.

Another visitor, Anto, who came with his wife and two
children, said the fair used to be so packed with visitors, it
was hard for them to move.

"People don't come because they (now) have to pay for children
aged three and up," said Anto. The last time the family went to
the fair in 1999, children younger than 11 got in free, he said.

The entrance fees stand at Rp 8,000 per person on weekdays,
and Rp 10,000 per person on weekends. Additional fees apply to
select attractions inside the fair, such as Rp 8,000 for a
regular seat and Rp 15,000 for a VIP seat at the Shaolin kungfu
performance and Rp 10,000 for the lanterns pavilion.

"Just imagine how much money I've had to spend here," Anto
said.

However, other visitors thought the ticket prices were
reasonable. "It's still cheaper than other entertainment venues,
like Ancol (Dreamland), for example," said Frans Situngkir, a
lawyer at a firm in South Jakarta.

"I like that (the management) put new attractions here," he
said as he sat in the lanterns pavilion. This year, two new shows
were introduced -- the Shaolin kungfu show and Negeri Dongeng
(Fairy Land) for children. The lanterns pavilion attraction
debuted at the last festival.