Jakarta Great Sale a flop due to lack of promotion

Bambang Nurbianto, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Jakarta Great Sale organizers admitted on Friday that the one- month event, held to celebrate the 475th anniversary of Jakarta, had failed to attract visitors, especially tourists.

Chairman of the Jakarta chapter of the Indonesian Chamber of Commerce and Industry Pungky Bambang Purwadi blamed the failure on the lack of promotion during the event, which involved major shopping malls, hotels and airlines.

"We have not been able to attract foreign and regional buyers to come during the sale. It has not reached our expectations," Pungky told the media on the sidelines of the closing ceremony of the Jakarta Great Sale here on Friday.

Apart from setting a target of Rp 3.7 trillion in revenue, the event, which finished on July 14, was also aimed at turning Jakarta into a shopping city tourist attraction.

The sale, which offered discounts of 20 percent to 70 percent, was held for the sixth time here. It was inspired by such events in Singapore and Hong Kong, but it has so far failed to emulate their success.

In an effort to attract foreign tourists, Indonesian flag- carrier Garuda Indonesia and 17 hotels took part in the Jakarta Great Sale. As many as 33 shopping centers also participated in the event.

"Next year Jakarta Great Sale will focus on how to attract foreign tourists to come to the capital. We will evaluate our weaknesses," said Pungky.

Pungky claimed that there was a lack of promotion as many people -- the leaders and the people -- were still preoccupied with political issues.

Pungky said the organizers had not been able to announce the turnover of the month-long promotion, but estimated that the target of Rp 3.7 trillion could be reached.

That was in contradiction to statements from major shopping centers like Plaza Indonesia, Senayan Plaza and Pasaraya Grande, which said that the sale had not boosted their sales.

Yastian Ismail, head of the sale organizing committee, admitted that there had been complaints from sale participants about the level of their turnover.