Java and beyond in Berlin expo

Java and beyond in Berlin expo

Sri Wahyuni, The Jakarta Post, Yogyakarta

As part of an attempt to return to the 1980s glory of Yogyakarta and its vicinity as one of the country's leading tourist destinations, local officials and people from the tourist industry, grouped under Java Pavilion, are heading to the world's largest annual international tourism promotion event in Berlin, Germany.

The event is the International Turismus Borse (ITB) Berlin, held from March 12 through March 16.

A total of 34 delegates left for Berlin to sell traditional and modified batik garments, coffee and popular salak pondoh (zallaca fruit), emping (crackers made of edible seeds from the melinjo tree or gnetum gnemon) and other tropical fruits rarely found in other parts of the globe.

According to Java Pavilion chairman Guntur S. Tampubolon, who is Hyatt Regency Yogyakarta Hotel general manager, this year is the third time that the association has sent delegates to the event since Java Pavilion was established in 2001. It first participated in ITB Berlin in 2002.

"ITB Berlin is the world's largest tourism promotion event held in an area of over 150,000 square meters (sq m) and participated in by over 180 countries from all over the world, or nearly 10,000 delegates," said Guntur, emphasizing the importance of the event.

Java Pavilion occupies a 200-sq m area inside the Indonesia Pavilion, a zone that takes up an area of 718 sq m, including Bali Village, which exhibits Bali tourist attractions.

The main mission of Java Pavilion is to promote Yogyakarta as an entry point to Java's tourist industry, connecting with other areas in Java island and also the rest of the archipelago.

That was why the Java Pavilion did not just promote Yogyakarta tourism alone but also Java and Indonesia as a whole.

"We have called it 'Java Destination and Beyond'," said Guntur, adding that some 2,000 copies of a 150-page Destinasi Java booklet, published by the association, would be distributed free during the tourism expo.

It was also for the reason of creating a "Java Destination and Beyond" brand image that the mission's small committee, established some eight months ahead of the event, decided to exhibit at the event three top products of the region.

They are modern batik (represented by local batik fashion designer Chaliet Bambang and batik producer Nakula Sadewa), traditional handmade woven cloth and coffee.

"We shall demonstrate batik making, the making of silk woven cloth and coffee brewing before visitors to the exhibition. We will also arrange a fashion show presenting some of Chaliet Bambang's designs," Guntur told a media briefing recently.

"We do hope to have some direct business contracts during the exhibition, both from travel bureaus and hotels. We always hope that the whole of Java is united in this pavilion to increase our bargaining power in international tourism," Guntur said.

Established jointly by the Sleman administration and tourism business community in the regency in 2001, Java Pavilion is aimed at promoting Java as an integrated tourist destination.

"We hope that travel agents abroad will be able to arrange tourist travel for their clients to the region as a whole," Sleman Regent Ibnu Subiyanto told The Jakarta Post in a separate interview.

The idea of establishing the association was driven by his desire to create cooperation between the local government and private sector in the tourist industry. That kind of cooperation, he said, was urgent because the bureaucrats alone would not be able to sell tourism products, mostly due to their lack of knowledge of the particular industry.

"Those who know best about the business are people from the tourist industry. So, I trusted them with designing the promotional and supporting material. What we did was just give them full support from behind," said Ibnu, adding that his administration had allocated some Rp 1 billion in funds for tourism promotion activities, including the Java Pavilion program.

The fund, which was released on the basis of a local bylaw, according to Ibnu, was directly collected from 9 percent of the 20 percent hotel and restaurant tax. It goes directly to a separate account specially made for tourism promotion; any involved party in the business is welcome to propose how it should be spent.

For the Java Pavilion alone, Sleman provided some Rp 600 million for the booth rental. Promotional materials and accommodation were the responsibility of each of the delegates. Yogyakarta municipality, which also participated in Java Pavilion, contributed some Rp 100 million in funding for the same event.

According to Ibnu, increasing numbers of tourist businesspeople in Yogyakarta and its surroundings have joined the association, as have other neighboring governments at a municipal or regency level.

"In this example Yogyakarta has taken a position at the hub. That way we will be able to take the upline tourism businesses," said Ibnu, adding that Java Pavilion, with the support of the Sleman government, had also been preparing for a similar promotional mission to Japan in August through September 2004.