Meeting starts to discuss future tourism

Meeting starts to discuss future tourism

JAKARTA (JP): Minister of Tourism, Post and Telecommunications
Joop Ave said yesterday that the government will begin discussing
the future of the country's tourist industry tomorrow.

"A small forum of economists will meet to begin arranging
academic outlines of the action plans for the development of the
country's tourist industry within the next 10 years," Joop said
in a hearing with Commission V of the House of Representative
yesterday.

He announced the establishment of the forum last month, saying
that the forum will analyze the structure of the country's
tourism-related infrastructure before moving faster in facing the
year 2005.

Joop told the commission, which deals with tourism,
transportation and telecommunication industries, yesterday that
such a measure is necessary because the tourism industry is
targeted to become the country's biggest foreign exchange earner
by the 2000s.

He said that the forum will not create any policy because it
is just a kind of "think tank" of several economists to discuss
the aspects of the country's tourist industry.

"Academic outlines are needed for basic actions. Then, I will
start discussions about three main subjects -- defense and
security, health and infrastructure.

"Discussions will be firstly held with my counterparts of the
Armed Forces and the Ministry of Home Affairs about an idea of
establishing tourist police. As we target to attract about more
than 10 million foreign visitors by the end of the Repelita VII
period, we have to be sure there will not be any trouble," he
said, adding that the other discussions will be on health and
infrastructure issues.

The seventh Five Year Development Plan (Repelita VII) period
will end in March 2004.

Health

"We have to be assured about health, to eliminate the
possibility of the spread of diseases. We also need better
infrastructure," he said.

The country's biggest foreign exchange earners currently
include oil and gas, textile products and timber.

"The country gained US$12.8 billion from oil and gas exports
last year, while tourist arrivals gave Indonesia only $4.7
billion in revenues," Joop said, adding that the number of
tourist arrivals has to increase by about 300 percent if
Indonesia wants to gain US$12 billion per annum from tourism by
the end of the Repelita VII period.

He said that the forum will also learn whether the expectation
is practical. "But I want to reiterate that the number of tourist
arrivals has in fact increased dramatically from 1983 to 1993,
with a growth rate of about 400 percent in the number of visitors
and more than 800 percent in revenues," he said.

Realizing that the price of oil, the country's largest foreign
exchange earner, has steadily declined, while the markets for
textile and timber don't have as much potential, the government
has been promoting the tourist industry for the past several
years.

In 1993, the tourist industry ranked fourth among the major
foreign exchange earners, giving Indonesia $3.35 billion in
revenues from foreign tourists, as compared to the $6.87 billion
gained from oil and gas exports, $6.06 billion from textile
exports and $5.47 billion from timber exports. Last year, more
than four million foreign tourists visited Indonesia, spending
some $4.7 billion.(icn)