RI, Singapore firms establish travel agent

JAKARTA (JP): PT Wisata Smailing, one of the leading tour and travel agencies in Indonesia, signed an agreement yesterday with Ken-Air Leisure Group Pte. Ltd. of Singapore to establish a joint travel agent in the city.

Under the agreement, signed by Wisata Smailing's president Rudy Akili and Ken-Air's chairperson Kristine Goh, the new company will be named PT Ken-Air Indonesia.

"The new company is 90 percent owned by Wisata Smailing and 10 percent by Ken-Air," Rudy said, adding that for the first phase the new firm will have an authorized capital of US$500,000.

He said that Ken-Air Indonesia expects to attract some 5,000 foreign visitors to Indonesia, especially from Singapore, Malaysia, the United States and Europe, during the company's first year of operation. The figure is expected to double to 10,000 in the second year.

The company will also offer outbound tours for Indonesians, he said.

Rudy also said that his company, which has operated Smailing Tour for 19 years, handled some 15,000 inbound tourists last year. The company expects to handle 18,000 this year.

Smailing Tour won an award this year for "best inbound tour operation" in Indonesia from the Asian Business Press Group at the PATA Mart in Sydney. The group also granted Ken-Air an award for the best outbound tour operator.

Kristine Goh said that Ken-Air Leisure Group is a holding company running various tourism-related businesses, including tour, incentive and convention planning, food and entertainment services and car rental.

Promising

Ken Air, which has overseas offices in Kuala Lumpur, Vancouver, London and Auckland, says Indonesia is a country with much potential in the tourism industry.

Indonesia expects to see some 4.65 million foreign visitors this year, bringing in more than $5 billion in foreign exchange. Last year, 4.01 million foreign tourists visited Indonesia, a 17.7 percent increase from 3.4 million in 1993. Indonesia's six major markets last year were Singapore (providing 1.01 million visitors), Japan (476,456), Malaysia (371,457), Taiwan (317,505), Australia (305,209) and Germany (160,325).

The government estimates that Singapore will still be the country's major market in the year 2000, providing some 2.34 million visitors to Indonesia.

Indonesia and Singapore have agreed to jointly develop and promote tourism and air transportation.

Several firms from Singapore have already invested billions of dollars in tourism-related projects in a number of resorts around Indonesia.(icn)