Rupiah's fall can attract foreign tourists: Joop Ave

JAKARTA (JP): The rupiah's fall against the U.S. dollar will help attract more foreign tourists, Minister of Tourism, Post and Telecommunications Joop Ave said yesterday.

Joop said the rupiah's fall would make visits to Indonesia cheaper and local tourist companies should benefit as a result, Antara reported.

In addition, local tourist companies should stop using imported products so as not to be burned from the surge in the American greenback, the minister said at the opening of a consultative meeting on tourism.

Speaking briefly on the possibility of rescheduling projects under his ministry's supervision, Joop said: "There are no tourist projects which need to be rescheduled."

Coordinating Minister for Economy and Development Supervision Saleh Afiff said earlier the government would reschedule large projects to minimize the impact from the sharp drop in the Indonesian currency.

Chairman of the Indonesian Hotel and Restaurants Association, Pontjo Sutowo, said the rupiah's depreciation would make Indonesia's tourist products more competitive.

He said the depreciation would only affect hotels which received local visitors because they received less dollars to pay for imported products.

Chairman of the Indonesian Tourism Promotion Board (BPPI) Tanri Abeng shared his view, saying the rupiah's depreciation would be a boon to overseas visitors.

Joop said foreign exchange receipts from the tourist industry increased 10.2 percent to US$498.58 million in June as compared to the same month last year.

Total receipts from the tourist sector in the first semester of this year reached $2.46 billion, up 6.1 percent over the same period in 1996.

He said foreign exchange earnings from tourism recovered in June after a 1.1 percent fall in April.

Tourist arrivals in June reached 381.177 tourists, up 5.6 percent compared to June last year.

Arrivals for this year's first semester reached 2,019,334 tourists, up 1.6 percent compared to the corresponding period last year.

"The small addition was a result of negative growth, by 5.3 percent in April and 3.7 percent in May," he said.

The government expects tourism to become the country's biggest foreign exchange earner, outperforming the oil and gas sector, by the end of the Seventh Five Year Development Plan in 2004.

President Soeharto said in November last year that Indonesia aimed to receive 11 million visitors in 2005 who will spend $15 billion. (08)