Reviving tourism

Reviving tourism

The black day of Sept. 11, 2001 affected Indonesian tourism,
as the arrival of American and European tourists dropped. Then,
just when tourism was about to revive, Bali was bombed on Oct. 12
last year.

The bomb blast buried all hopes that Indonesian tourism would
recover. Many countries issued travel advisories to their
citizens, warning against travel to Indonesia.

Now, when Bali is relatively quiet, the fear of Severe Acute
Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) has rocked the world. Westerners are
now reluctant to travel to East Asia.

Amid the sluggishness of the Indonesian tourism industry, the
52nd Conference of the Pacific Asia Travel Association (PATA)
opened in Nusa Dua, Bali, on Monday. The three-day conference,
which involves 972 delegates from 42 countries, has shown the
world that Bali, and Indonesia in general, is safe for tourists.

The success of the PATA conference would be a positive point
for the development of Indonesian tourism. However, we have many
things to do. We must work harder to revive the tourism sector,
which generates huge foreign exchange revenues.

Our tourist industry needs a complete overhaul. We should
learn from Singapore -- which has limited attractions and
destinations -- for its achievement in attracting more tourists.

We have many more tourist attractions than Singapore, but we
have obviously failed to manage and market them properly.

-- Republika, Jakarta