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.