No exodus overseas, say RI travel agents

JAKARTA (JP): The number of Indonesians traveling abroad during the election campaign is no more than usual for the time of year but many foreign tourists have delayed their visits to Indonesia until after the election is over, according to travel executives.

Director of travel agency PT Iwata Meity Robot said that staff in her office handling outbound tours had not been very busy this month.

"Bookings and reservations have increased for the school holiday period (in July), but not in May," she told The Jakarta Post Saturday.

She said that several overseas groups intending to visit Indonesia this month had delayed their trips until June.

Director of PT Pantravel, Elly Hutabarat, said that her company had even suggested to foreign tourists who wanted to come here to delay their visits until after the election.

"We don't say, however, that Indonesia is not safe. Anyway, we are not in the high season yet," she said.

Chairman of PT Setia Tur, Nurdin Purnomo, told the Post over the weekend that there were seasons for Indonesians traveling abroad.

"Popular times for Indonesians traveling overseas are usually the July school holiday, Christmas and Idul Fitri. May and June are not low season but are not high either."

Some two million Indonesians traveled abroad last year.

Analysts said many rich Indonesians have spent the one-month campaign, which started on April 27, overseas to avoid a possible violence at home.

Mob violence among supporters of the three competing parties is growing and some analysts expect the situation will get worse this week as the campaign reaches its peak.

Robot said that unfavorable media coverage of Indonesia would affect the country's image.

"People won't go to any place in trouble and this depends on the media coverage," she said.

Local authorities in Central Java reported last month that the number of visitors to the province had dropped because of rioting in several towns.

A provincial official was quoted as saying than many people were afraid of traveling to the province after reading reports of the riots.

The most recent riots happened Friday in the Central Java town of Temanggung.

Nurdin said that Indonesia did not currently have a bad image in Australia.

"I've just returned from four cities in Australia," he said. "I didn't come across any negative opinions of Indonesia after I met with officials and businesspeople in Sydney, Canberra, Melbourne and Perth,"

He said that general elections were an accepted part of any nation's activity and that Indonesia was no exception. (icn)