Outward bound

Outward bound

From Neraca

In recent weeks, travel agencies have aggressively advertised trips to Europe, the United States, Australia, even Africa. When the school holidays or end-of-year vacation approach, newspapers are filled with the travel ads to tempt students or their parents to venture abroad.

Note that the foreign vacations are competitively priced. A short stay of five days, including five-star hotel costs and sightseeing tours, in Australia costs no more than Rp 1.5 million.

This is very cheap if compared to roundtrip airfares of nearly Rp 1 million to Ambon or Banda Aceh in Indonesia. After all, this does not include hotel and local transportation costs.

It is not surprising therefore if the general public, youngsters included, opt to vacation abroad instead of visiting relatives in Ambon or Banda Aceh.

In the future, many of our students, particularly those from affluent families, will be more familiar with tourist attractions in foreign lands than those in their own country.

I am appealing to the Director General of Tourism to look into this disparity in prices. Don't let it happen that students from wealthy families enjoy and know foreign lands better than their own.

I trust this input will be of value to the Directorate General of Tourism.

TAN SUN LAY

Bogor, West Java