Jakarta to hold tourism expo

JAKARTA (JP): A tourism festival will be held at the Jakarta Hilton Convention Center from May 18 to May 21 in a bid to lure locals to domestic tourist destinations.

The organizing committee said here on Wednesday that about 150 tourism-related companies such as tour operators, star-hotels as well as small ones, airlines, recreational parks and nature reserves operators were expected to join the event, called 2000 Nusantara Tourism Festival.

"We are inviting Jakartans to spend the coming holiday in Indonesia through interesting tour packages with special prices", said the head of the organizing committee, Elly Hutabarat.

The event, organized by Indonesian Tourism Promotion Board (BPPI) and Pacific Asia Travel Association (PATA), is expected to lure about 20,000 visitors from the greater Jakarta area.

A similar event was held last year but focused more on promoting Indonesian tourist spots to foreign tour operators and tourists, Elly said. (07)