Regaining confidence

It is encouraging to note that less than 10 days after the deadly bomb attack in Bali the government is already preparing concerted efforts to restore international confidence in the tourist paradise and in Indonesia in general.

More than 150 representatives from national and international airlines, hotels, tour operators and other travel-related businesses completed a two-day national meeting in Bali on Wednesday that worked out crash programs to restore the island's image as a safe place to visit.

Technical details of the programs have yet to be worked out but the presence of chief economics minister Dorodjatun Kuntjoro- Jakti and tourism and culture minister I Gede Ardika at the conference demonstrated the government's sense of urgency that fast actions are indeed required to cope with the devastating damage inflicted by the tragedy on the island's economy and the country as a whole.

Even though regaining international confidence will depend largely on how swiftly the government is able to answer the questions around the terror bomb and how strong is its determination and political will to suppress terrorism, crash programs are needed to address the enormous economic damage in view of Bali's heavy reliance on tourism.

Analysts' estimate that at least 400,000 workers might lose their jobs as a result of the steep fall in tourist arrivals is not too pessimistic a prediction because tourism is a multi- sectored, labor-intensive operation.

Crash programs therefore are urgently needed to help these victims survive until international confidence is fully restored and tourist arrivals return to normal. Soft-term loans for small and medium-scale enterprises and value-added and income tax relief will greatly help companies to weather the business crunch.

However, the extent and duration of the sufferings could be decreased through concerted joint promotion programs with national, international airlines, hotels and tour operators to bring in foreign and domestic tourists.

First of all, before we ask for international cooperation to help us in promoting Bali, it is now the time for local tourists, who usually go overseas for their year-end vacations to demonstrate their national solidarity by holidaying in Bali. At a time when our country is now being isolated by travel warnings by many countries, we need to go all out to show to the world that the Oct. 12 bomb attack was an isolated incident.

Scenes of big crowds enjoying the beaches and shopping at handicraft shops in Bali could speed up the process of regaining tourists' confidence in the island. Big discounts on air fares and hotel rates would be great incentives for domestic tourists to spend holidays in Bali.

The government also needs to immediately work out joint programs with international airlines that operate daily flights to Bali, such as Garuda, Singapore Airlines, Qantas, Japan Airlines, China Airlines in selling generously-discounted package tours to Bali. Next on the program could be bringing in international travel writers to Bali in December to see for themselves the latest situation in Bali.

Since the damage is not limited to Bali but is also further hurting the already fragile national economy and is detrimental to Indonesia's image in the international community, the government needs to implement crash programs to regain consumer and business confidence in the country's economic prospects.

Much has been said about the great costs inflicted by the bomb attack in the form of lost tax and foreign exchange revenues and, even more devastating, lost investor confidence.

In this context, crash programs are not so much completely new measures but rather the acceleration of key reform programs in bank and corporate restructuring, asset recovery, privatization of state companies and governance and legal reforms to offset the setback caused by the tragedy in Bali.

Yes, an unforeseen incident or tragedy like the one that hit Bali could change investors' calculus. Barring another deadly incident; with firm and prompt actions by the government to crackdown on terrorism and to push ahead with its reform measures, businesspeople would assign a reasonable probability on the economy's prospects.