Joop pushes for more tourism promotion

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)