RI tourism facing tough task in the future

RI tourism facing tough task in the future

Sri Wahyuni, The Jakarta Post, Yogyakarta

Despite a full year of preparation, Indonesia's most prestigious annual tourism event held here at the Jogja Expo Center (JEC) failed to attract more international buyers compared to the previous year.

By its official close earlier last week, the organizing committee of Tourism Indonesia Mart and Expo (TIME) 2005, or Pasar Wisata as it is also popularly known, had recorded the participation of only 124 sellers from 16 provinces and 76 buyers from 21 countries.

Last year it had 147 sellers representing 20 provinces and 102 buyers from 28 countries participating. Thus, there has been a significant drop in the number of international buyers.

"I do feel it a bit emptier this year. Even today, only a few buyers are present. Many of them have already left for Kuala Lumpur for the PATA Travel Mart," Jogjakarta Plaza Hotel's public relations manager Yustianti Risnasari said.

Risnasari was speaking on the last day of Pasar Wisata. Although it was still around noon and the event would only be officially closed late in the afternoon, many of the booths were vacant while only a few buyers were seen in attendance.

The PATA (Pacific Asia Travel Association) Travel Mart, which opened in Kuala Lumpur on Sept. 27, or one day after the closing of Pasar Wisata, was said to be one of the reasons why the number of buyers at this year's TIME decreased significantly.

As both tourism events were held at almost the same time in the neighboring countries, most of the buyers preferred to visit the PATA Mart and skipped TIME.

This was not surprising as the PATA Travel Mart was always going to be attended by a much greater number of buyers and sellers.

"We thought originally that the proximity of the dates for TIME and the PATA Travel Mart would help attract more buyers as they could visit both marts." said TIME 2005's Organizing Committee chairwoman, Meity Robot.

In fact, this was one of the reasons why TIME 2005 was held immediately before the PATA Travel Mart. However, it turned out that most buyers preferred to go directly to the PATA Mart and skip Pasar Wisata.

"It was not what we had expected," said Meity, adding that competition with other marts in the region was making things tougher for Indonesia.

Other factors that contributed to the decrease in the number of participating buyers, and also sellers, included the fact that more and more regions, including Surakarta (Central Java), Bandung (West Java), and Surabaya (East Java), were holding their own tourism and travel marts following the rolling out of local autonomy.

Meity, however, said that the success of Pasar Wisata could not be just solely on the number of participating buyers. It was also important to look at the value of the business transactions sealed during the event.

TIME 2005 reported the sealing of business transactions worth US$ 13 million during the event, or the same value as last year.

"So, I personally consider that this year's TIME was still a success," said Meity, expressing the hope that the realization of the transactions would produce even greater value than the estimates stated during the event.

She also said that the decrease in the number of both buyers and sellers at this year's TIME should not make the tourism community in the country feel disheartened or even discontinue the event in future years. Such feelings would provide no solutions to the problems.

"We have to go on with this. Otherwise, who else will organize the event?" Meity asked.

The success of TIME, she said, also needed the support and coordination of all the stakeholders in the tourism industry, including governments and the private sector.

The central government's decision to extend the number of countries eligible for the Visa on Arrival (VoA) facility, for example, was highly welcome and appreciated. However, she said that financial support for events like TIME was also needed.

"It took some US$2 million to hold TIME this year. Most of the money, however, came from the private sector," said Meity, while expressing the hope that the central government would allocate some funding for next year's TIME to show its seriousness in restoring the country's tourism industry.

TIME 2006 will be held at the end of September next year in Makassar, South Sulawesi, at the Celebes Convention Center/Clarion Hotel Pettarani, which is still under construction and is scheduled to open in June 2006.

Makassar will be the first city in Eastern Indonesia to host TIME. Since being held for the first time in 1994, TIME was always hosted by Jakarta and only moved to Yogyakarta last year. Like Yogyakarta, Makassar is also scheduled to host TIME for two consecutive years.

"We are ready to host TIME next year. All the preparations have being made. We will even start do the marketing next week," Nico B. Pasaka, representing Makassar's local organizing committee, told journalists at the TIME 2005's closing media conference in Yogyakarta last week.

Held every September under the coordination of the Indonesian Tourism Promotion Board (BPPI), TIME is aimed at improving the image of Indonesia as an attractive tourist destination on the international market.

Such efforts are important as the tourism industry is vulnerable to various unanticipated shocks, ranging from health scares to terrorist attacks.

With last weekend's second round of Bali bombings, it is apparent that TIME 2006 will have a hard time attracting more international buyers to the event.