Public auctions could promote tourism

Public auctions could promote tourism

JAKARTA (JP): Public auctions of international, high-quality
collectors' items are viewed as having the potential to promote
Indonesia's tourism industry.

"If an auction is held during a vacation period in certain
tourism destinations, many foreigners will come to Indonesia to
attend it and spend several days in the country," the director of
PT Liabilitaspersada Superintenden, Andrew Poerwantoro, told The
Jakarta Post during a public auction of high-quality carpets at
the World Trade Center here on Saturday.

He said that by frequently holding public auctions, his
company will make people accustomed to genuine collections, such
as those of porcelain, paintings and other valuable things.

According to Andrew, who also runs several other businesses,
his company has held 12 public auctions in Jakarta and Surabaya,
East Java.

"In average, in one auction we can collect between Rp 300
million (US$140,000) and Rp 500 million. But actually it depends
on timing, buyers and offered-products," he said, adding that
some 50 people, foreigners and Indonesians, usually attend his
company's auctions.

He also said that the most expensive products his company has
sold include a Persian carpet worth Rp 35 million in an auction
in Surabaya and another carpet worth Rp 22 million in Jakarta.

"My company, set up in 1992 as the first public auction
company in the country, collects carpets from collectors,
bankrupt wholesalers and other parties," Andrew said.

Buyers at the auctions included collectors, as well as
interested public and "yuppies," he said.

At Saturday's auction, Liabilitaspersada offered 76 authentic
contemporary hand-made Persian, Anatolian and Afghan carpets and
other exceptional, unique and decorative rugs and runners.

Prices ranged from Rp 5 million to Rp 10 million.

Andrew said that his company charges five percent to 10
percent in commission on the total transactions from the owners
of auctioned goods, while the expert auctioneer, who is usually
invited from Switzerland or Hong Kong, also takes commissions or
fees.

Under the Indonesian law on auctions, nine percent of the
proceeds should go to the state auction office and 0.7 percent to
the social services ministry. (icn)