Multimedia exhibition opens amid SARS fears

Multimedia exhibition opens amid SARS fears

The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

While many international exhibitions in the region were
canceled due to the outbreak of Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome
(SARS), the fourth annual Indonesia International
Telecommunication Media and Information Technology Conference and
Exhibition kicked off on Wednesday despite low attendance.

Juanita Soerakoesoemah, general manager of event organizer PT
Rantai Expo International, said only 50 exhibitors were taking
part in the event, half last year's number.

According to Juanita, the lower attendance was caused by the
SARS outbreak.

"We have many international participants who pulled out just
days before the exhibition began," she said, adding that there
were 1,000 participants including 130 conference delegates at
this year's event.

With such low attendance, she said it was only aiming to
attract 10,000 visitors to the four-day exhibition, down from
last year when more than 17,000 visitors poured into the
exhibition.

Separately, one of the participants, Budiman from PT
Indovisual Presentatama, a distributor of LCD projectors, said
his company was hesitant in joining the exhibition given the
market downturn.

"Had the organizer not allotted free space for us in the
exhibition in the first place, we would not open our stand here.
The market will be very weak during this year's first semester,"
he said, pointing to growing business uncertainties, partly due
to SARS.