Joop pushes for more tourism promotion

JAKARTA (JP): Minister of Tourism, Post and Telecommunications Joop Ave called on related parties yesterday to improve promotional activities for Indonesia's tourist industry, which the country is counting on as a major foreign exchange earner.

"Promotion is not just the responsibility of one particular party but of the whole nation," he told reporters after delivering a speech at the opening ceremony of the four-day Tourism Indonesia Mart and Expo (TIME) at the Jakarta Convention Center.

The government has targeted the tourism sector as the main foreign exchange earner by the end of the Seventh Five Year Development Plan period in 2004, when the tourist industry in the Asia-Pacific region is expected to be booming.

Joop said yesterday that campaigning in the industry is still very weak. He said this is due, primarily, to the very limited funds available.

The Indonesian Tourism Promotion Board reported this week that it has received only Rp 5.92 billion (US$2.6 million), or nine percent, of the total funds collected by the government from the development tax imposed on hotels and restaurants in 10 provinces.

A travel and tourism editor of the Economist Intelligence Unit, Sue Mather, told a conference held in conjunction with the TIME that, by 2005, Indonesia will receive some 11 million visitors per annum, about three times the current level and representing annual growth of 10 percent.

TIME, which was officially opened by Jakarta Governor Soerjadi Soedirdja yesterday, is being participated in by 190 buyers from 32 countries and 359 sellers from 177 companies.

The four-day event includes an exhibition and a seminar. (icn)