RI firms attracting more European tourists

The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Indonesian companies have won contracts for the visit of over 35,000 tourists from European countries, creating optimism that the country will attract more than one million visitors from Europe, said an official on Monday.

"We expect that between one million and 1.5 million tourists from European countries will visit Indonesia this year," head of promotion affairs for West and East European countries at the Office of State Minister of Culture and Tourism Rita Sofia told The Jakarta Post.

She said about 800,000 tourists from European countries visited Indonesia last year. Five countries -- the Netherlands, Germany, Britain, Italy and Spain -- were the largest contributors to the number of European visitors.

She explained that the contracts were signed by Indonesian companies and their counterparts in the world's biggest tourism event, Internationale Tourismo Borse (ITB) in Berlin, held from March 11 to March 15.

Representatives of 70 hotels, 30 tour operators, three tourism associations and six provincial tourism offices in the country took part in the event.

According to Sofia, State Minister of Culture and Tourism Jero Wacik had told the participants of the event that Indonesia would change some things to make Indonesia more attractive for foreign tourists.

One of those changes would be that flag carrier Garuda Indonesia would resume flights from Indonesia to Europe in the middle of the year, the minister was quoted by Sofia as saying.

Garuda Indonesia stopped regular service to many European destinations last year.

Wacik also told the participants that Indonesia would increase the number of countries eligible for a visa-on-arrival.

Currently, tourists who are nationals from the United States, Australia, South Africa, Argentina, Brazil, Denmark, the United Arab Emirates, Finland, Hungary, the United Kingdom, Italy, Japan, Germany, Canada, South Korea, Norway, France and Taiwan are eligible for the visa-on-arrival.

But the government announced earlier this month that it would be expanded to include 16 more countries -- including Saudi Arabia, the Netherlands, Austria, Ireland, China, India, Kuwait and Egypt -- to get the visa-on-arrival.

Sofia said in January that nine Indonesian companies consisting of three hotels and six travel agents also signed contracts with foreign counterparts at the Feria International Turismo (FITUR) exhibition in Madrid. (004)