RI needs high-class campaign

RI needs high-class campaign

By Grace Emilia

JAKARTA (JP): The eyes of the international tourism industry,
especially in ASEAN, will soon be upon Yogyakarta as the biggest
tourism event in South East Asia, namely the Asean Tourism Forum
(ATF), will be held there in January 2002.

Around 400 international buyers and 800 international sellers
are predicted to come. ASEAN tourism ministers will also attend
and have a conference to discuss the development of tourism in
South East Asian countries.

To prepare for the event, and also to develop the MICE
(Meeting, Incentive, Convention & Exhibition) industry, the
government of Yoygakarta has decided to build a 10,800-square-
meter exhibition and convention hall on 4.7 hectares of land in
the middle of the city. It will cost around US$1 million to
build.

News spreads so fast. Not long after the government of
Yogyakarta announced the plan and which was cited by a regional
tourism media, Veng Sereyvuth, the tourism minister of Cambodia,
said at a press conference during the latest PATA (Pacific Asia
Travel Association) Conference in Kuala Lumpur on April 11, that
his country would learn from Indonesia as Cambodia was scheduled
to host the ATF in 2003.

However, soon after the press conference was over, some
international journalists were asking themselves where Yogyakarta
was.

They even faced a bit difficulty in pronouncing "Yoygakarta".
No wonder the Governor of Yoygakarta, Sri Sultan Hamengku Buwono
X, plans to change the name "Yogyakarta" to "Jogja" to make it
easier for people to remember.

The fact that people (abroad) do not know the whereabouts of
Yogyakarta is not solely the problem of Yogyakarta. It is the
problem of Indonesia.

Such ignorance has caused lots of headaches for Indonesia's
tourism industry, especially when there are riots or disturbances
in some areas and the industry has to explain that the distance
from Bali to troubled Aceh is similar to that from London in
Briton to Warsaw in Poland; or the distance from Yogyakarta to
Maluku is like from Vancouver in Canada to Los Angeles in the
U.S.

Yes, the tourism industry is very sensitive to issues
concerning security. Antonie Sirot, general manager of the
Novotel Bogor in West Java complained that he lost business from
Korea earlier this year due to the "Solo incident" in Central
Java when some irresponsible group went on the hunt for American
guests in Solo in November of last year.

"They are golfers who usually stay up to 8 weeks, but they
canceled their trip as the Solo incident made the headlines in
Korea." said Sirot.

So far, Bali is still the winner that sustains inbound tourism
in Indonesia.

Of 5,046 million tourists visiting Indonesia in 2000, 1,386
million came to Bali. Yogyakarta, often regarded the second
inbound destination after Bali only received 73,361 visitors in
1999 (a more than 300% decrease compared to 1995 when it received
344,265 inbound visitors).

"If the tourism industry in this city is still alive well, it
is thanks to the domestic visitors who throng Yogya especially on
weekends." says Darmawan Pandoyo, marketing manager of the Hotel
Santika Yogyakarta.

This sharp drop in the number of inbound visitors to
Yogyakarta started in 1998 after the political, social and
economic crises in Indonesia started -- not solely because the
product was stagnant.

Jono Lesmana, branch manager of Tunas Indonesia Tour & Travel
Yogyakarta comments that the tourism product is not the heart of
the matter as products will develop automatically in line with
the coming of tourists.

"There is now alternative tourism products, such as
agrotourism, also adventure tourism like caving in various caves
around Yogya or culture tourism where tourists can learn to dye
fabrics, play the gamelan and even plant rice." adds Pandoyo.

Elly Hutabarat, president of PanTravel and also chairperson of
PATA's Indonesia chapter, said that at the latest ASEANTA
(Association of Southeast Asian Travel Associations) meeting held
in Yogyakarta last month, her colleagues from the ASEAN countries
were saying things like, "This place is a very good destination.
We really enjoyed our stay. Good golf courses, good hotels, good
food, good shopping, why don't you promote this more?"

Promotion

Bintan is a perfect example of the utmost importance of
promotion. Hoteliers report that the island has been relatively
stable, untouched by the regional economic crisis nor the unrest
in Indonesia.

Often regarded as the second destination to Singapore, this
island is much promoted by the Singapore Tourism Board; besides
also having Singapore as its major market. Travel Asia, a
regional travel media reports that arrivals to Bintan have even
been increasing by 20 percent yearly.

Konstantin Iakouchev, a Moscow-based reporter with a tourism
publication in Russia who was invited by the Indonesian tourism
industry to visit the archipelago, said that in Russia, Indonesia
is known, but mostly only Bali.

"Other parts of Indonesia such as Lombok, Jakarta and Bintan
are less familiar. Sumatra, Kalimantan and Irian Jaya are known
from geography lessons at school. Almost no brochures mention the
existence of Indonesia. Russians usually go to a minimum of two
countries when visiting Asia.

In South East Asia, popular destinations are Singapore -
Malaysia, Singapore - Bali, and also Singapore - Bintan." said
Iakouchev.

Among the neighboring countries, Thailand is a good example of
why a crisis should not reduce the number of tourists visiting a
country. Data from the Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT)
reveals that since 1995, the number of visitors has been
continuously increasing.

It's just that in 1997, the percentage rise was lower, only
0.68%, compared to other years. "This was the time when some of
TAT's representative offices overseas were closed down.

"However, Thai Airways as the national flag carrier still
supported TAT for promotional activities," says Danadi Sutjianto,
TAT Marketing Representative for Indonesia whose office was
reopened in October 2000.

Presently, Thailand receives the highest number of inbound
visitors in South East Asia (9,578 million) and had a market
share in East Asia and the Pacific of 8.6 percent in 2000
(Indonesia's market share was 4.5% during the same period).

"Thailand's promotional budget for 2001 is $94 million,
Singapore's $87 million, Malaysia's around $60 million and
Indonesia's only $5 million.

Though it is far from enough, the figure represents a 500
percent increase over last year, showing that the legislature has
started to understand the importance of tourism." says Thamrin
Bachri, director general of marketing and international relations
at the Ministry of Culture and Tourism.

Bachri says that presently, this budget will be mostly used
for improving the quality and quantity of promotional materials,
presenting a good image of Indonesia by using international
electronic media, holding limited road shows in a number of
prospective countries, and maintaining Indonesia's presence at
several major tourism fairs, like the International Travel
Exchange (ITB) in Berlin and World Travel Mart in London.

"For research and development (R&D), we are only able to
allocate less than one percent of the total budget, in the form
of a passenger exit survey. Meanwhile, in other East Asia &
Pacific countries R&D usually makes up more than 5.4% of the
total promotional budget." admits Bachri.

Well, since it is the fact that Indonesia does not have much
money, the country's tourist industry should find other ways to
promote itself. Especially if Indonesia wants to maintain tourism
as its number one foreign exchange earner in the non-oil and gas
sector, as was the case during 2000.

As far as the budget is concerned, Feisol Hashim, chairman for
international relations and marketing promotion with the
Indonesia Tourism Society, which represents both the government
and private sector, says that creativity can help to solve some
of the problems. "We can try to get funding from sponsors as well
as income from the tourism events held in Indonesia."

Meanwhile, Elly Hutabarat suggests that Indonesia appoint
Destination Management Companies (DMC) in each country to be its
marketing representative.

"Should we do this, we wouldn't have to send our people to
carry out marketing abroad, which is very expensive. Even if we
had to pay, it won't cost much. For example, say we appoint a DMC
in Bangkok. As part of the local scene, this DMC knows where to
go in doing promotion. Also the Thai residents who want to know
about Indonesia can go to that DMC and get information from
there."

Public relations is another thing that is very vital. Ron
Erdmann, deputy director tourism development with the U.S.
Department of Commerce suggests that Indonesia needs to follow up
on travel advisories issued by embassies, like those often issued
by the U.S. Embassy.

"Sometimes the warning has been lifted but people do not know
because there has been no further follow-up informing the world
about it from the industries and media of the countries
concerned," says Erdmann.

As tourism belongs to everybody, especially since Indonesia
puts emphasis on "community-based tourism" where every part of
society can benefit, it should then be everybody's concern to
restore and subsequently maintain a good image of Indonesia.