Peaceful election bodes well for tourism sector: ASITA
Peaceful election bodes well for tourism sector: ASITA
Dewi Santoso, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
The country's tourism industry hopes the current general election
will run smoothly and lead to the creation of a strong government
to help revive the sector.
Coordinator of tourism department at the Association of
Indonesian Tours and Travel Agencies (ASITA), Hasiyanna Rainier,
said that a strong government was crucial to helping ensure law
and order, and improving the security situation, both of which
were necessary to attract foreign tourists.
"If the elections go peacefully and produce a good government,
tourism in our country will increase in 2005," Hasiyanna told The
Jakarta Post recently.
Meity Robot of the Indonesian Tourism Society agreed with
Hasiyanna, saying that political and security stability was the
basic ingredient for a successful tourism industry.
"Indonesia's tourism industry has suffered a serious decline
since 1998 because tourists no longer feel safe visiting
Indonesia. They see it as a country without law and order. Thus,
if we really want to boost the (tourism) industry, we need to
first put law and order in place," Meitty said.
The tourism industry in Indonesia started to go downhill in
1998, when the country was hit by a combination of economic and
political crises
The sector was further hit by the Bali bombs in 2002, followed
by the Hotel Marriott bombing in Jakarta a year later, and ethnic
clashes in Maluku and Aceh.
Data from the Ministry of Tourism and Culture showed that the
number of foreign tourists decreased to around 4.6 million in
1998, from 5.2 million in 1997. During the following three years,
however, the figure steadily increased, reaching 5.1 million in
2001. But after the bombing incidents, the number of tourist
arrivals dropped to 4.4 million in 2003.
The government is targeting an increase in the number of
foreign tourists to 5 million this year.
The country has just recently held its legislative elections,
which turned out to be relatively peaceful. A presidential
election is slated for July 5, with a possible second round
election in September if no contestant wins a majority of the
vote.
Meanwhile, ASITA chairman Ben Sukma called on the government
to help the tourism industry by staging more overseas promotions.
"What's has been happening is that those involved in the
industry have had to conduct tourism promotions on their own
without the government taking part," said Ben, adding that the
sector played a highly significant role in the economy.
But Sapta Nirwandar, the secretary to the ministry of tourism
and culture said that the government had been active in promoting
the country's tourism sector.
As an example, the pointed out that following the Bali bombing
incident the government had set up five working groups to promote
Indonesia's tourism attractions in five different markets,
namely, ASEAN, Japan, China, the Middle East and Australia.
"The groups were sent to the five regions to promote Indonesia
and all their expenses were paid for by the government. What more
do we have to do?" he asked.
The government has allocated a total of Rp 90 billion ($10.6
million) for tourism promotions this year. The working groups
received around 40 percent of the total funds.
Sapta said that the future of the country's tourism industry
now depended on the elections.
"If nothing happens and the elections run well, our tourism
industry will see golden days ahead," he said.
Tourist arrivals in Indonesia
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Year Tourists Forex Revenue (in US$)
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1997 5.18 million 5.32 billion
1998 4.60 million 4.33 billion
1999 4.73 million 4.71 billion
2000 5.06 million 5.75 billion
2001 5.15 million 5.43 billion
2002 5.03 million 4.30 billion
2003 4.44 million 4.00 billion