Rupiah's fall can attract foreign tourists: Joop Ave

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)