Seribu Islands for duty-free zone: Only a dream?

By Grace Emilia

JAKARTA (JP): Ardika, is a 55-feet boat for 16 people, often seen berthing at the pier of Marina Ancol Jakarta.

It has two cabins, complete fishing equipment and is fully air-conditioned.

In the good old times (before the monetary crisis), Ardika always lifted its anchor at least twice a week.

Rented by families going for holiday in Seribu Islands in North Jakarta, by nature lovers in search of the wilderness in Ujung Kulon at the western tip of Banten province, or by hunters looking for wild boars at Tanjung Belimbing in Lampung, Sumatera.

Many a time, big companies also rent Ardika for entertaining their business associates on board.

In brief, Ardika leads a busy and cheerful life.

The situation changed. The financial crisis struck everyone, including Ardika.

The boat is now sometimes not used for two months before someone takes it to sea.

"Currently, we rent it for Rp 5.5 million per 12 hours. It's a good rate. Before the crisis its rate was Rp 4 million per 12 hours. That is only a small hike compared to the three times increase in spare part prices.

Nevertheless, it is hard to sell the boat although every month we have to pay Rp 2.5 million for berthing in Marina Ancol," sighed Samhudi, Ardika's captain.

Captain Samhudi and his five crew members are not alone.

Asep, a counter officer of Pulau Pelangi in Marina Ancol also tells a similar story.

Before the crisis, Pulau Pelangi was thronged by Italian and Japanese tourists.

Presently, thanks to the domestic tourists and expatriates, the island economy is sustained. "I think foreign tourists are concerned with the security issues in Jakarta," said Asep.

Pulau Pelangi, located about 70 kilometers from Marina Ancol or about one and a half hours by speedboat, is a near Pulau Sepa and Pulau Pantara.

The similarities of these beautiful islands are that they have sandy beaches and sit in the middle of a clean blue ocean.

"Very good for snorkeling and diving," says Jimny Tendean of Viany Tour & Travel, which deals with tours and accommodation in Seribu Islands.

"Most expats and foreign tourists come to these islands as they are unspoilt. Pulau Pantara has the best food, compared to the others, but it is also the furthest and most expensive."

"Nowadays, the majority of tourists, especially the locals, visit nearby islands like Pulau Ayer and Pulau Bidadari.

Pulau Bidadari is the closest and thus the cheapest. These islands, especially Pulau Ayer, have swimming pools, karaoke bars and even Time Zone. Well-equipped facilities are important for tourist. However, unlike Pantara, Sepa or Pelangi, the surrounding waters in Bidadari and Ayer are not as clean as they are close to the mainland," explains Tendean.

Ramses Simanjuntak, public relation manager of PT Pembangunan Jaya Ancol, which owns Pulau Bidadari, even says that the island is not affected by the crisis.

Some 35,000 visitors landed on Pulau Bidadari last year.

On weekends, around 700 visitors throng the island per day. If the nine boats owned by PT Jaya Ancol are fully booked, it rents more boats from neighboring islands or from private individuals.

However, not all parties selling Seribu Islands in Marina Ancol are as lucky as PT jaya Ancol.

Though prices for accommodation, boat rental or diving equipment for foreign and domestic tourists are in the local currency, which is very good value for money, not many foreign tourists are keen on coming to Jakarta, or to sun bath or dive in Seribu Islands.

It is a shame as the potential for tourism in Seribu Islands is very big, especially in the northern islands whose nature is still well-preserved.

Caribbean

Well, let's see other parts of the world.

At the Bahamas in the Caribbean archipelago, there is one small island called Princess Cays which belongs to Princess Cruises, the Los-Angeles-based ship company owning big cruise ships that sail around the world, including to the Caribbean islands.

Princess Cays is a beautiful island with sandy beaches and a good diving spot. Once the tourists land on the island, they quickly stand in line to rent a small space for sun bathing on its beach.

Near the Princess Cays are islands belonging to U.S. Virgin Islands, which was founded by Christopher Colombus and named after St. Thomas, St. John and St. Croix.

Presently these islands heavily depend on tourism -- mostly from the cruise passengers visiting the islands on big ships like the Grand Princess of Princess Cruises which can hold more than 4,000 people. Usually there are three to six of such big ships berthing in these isles during the high tourism season.

"Average spending of one cruise passenger is US$243. There were 1.7 million visitors to St. Thomas in 2000. Cruise passengers itself increases by 10 percent each year." says Darr Conradson, vice president of marketing for Little Switzerland, which manages 17 jewelry shops in the Caribbean islands.

Yes, some islands in the Caribbean archipelago such as St. Thomas are well-known for being a center of duty-free goods like jewelry or precious stones imported from all over the world.

People can find tanzanite imported from Tanzania, gold from Italy, jewelry from Hong Kong or watches from Switzerland. Almost all shops claim their prices are 20 percent to 50 percent lower than in the United States.

During the colonial era, St. Thomas was used as the center of slavery. It's now home to 117,000 people with the average income of $26,661 per family.

Lucita Lewis, senior information officer of the U.S. Virgin Islands Department of Tourism, says the locals are very concerned about keeping the islands' security tight.

"Tourists will come if the islands are safe and secure," says Lewis though she refers more to the eradicating of pickpockets than riots when talking of a safe destination.

Dreaming

Yanti Sukamdani, chairperson of Indonesia Hotel & Restaurant Association's Jakarta chapter, who also an active supporter of the Jakarta Tourism Board, says Jakarta is targeted to be the a shopping, marine and MICE (Meeting, Incentive, Convention, Exhibition-red) destination.

As a marine destination, the facilities are adequate. On shopping, the goods sold in Jakarta are good value for money, probably the best in Asia.

If the image of Jakarta as a safe destination is restored, we can expect the northern isles in the Seribu Islands like Pulau Pelangi or Pulau Pantara to get busy again handling foreign tourists.

Probably big ships will also visit Jakarta and drop off thousands of its passengers to shop. If big ship are unable to berth in Marina Ancol, they can use boats like Ardika to transfer them to the islands.

Princess Cays does not have a big pier either. Grand Princess' passengers are all transferred to the island by tender boats.

Should cruise passengers want to see how Indonesians in the Seribu Islands "actually" live, they can go to Pulau Untung Jawa.

The locals sell handicrafts or other cultural products to the tourists. As in the case of U.S. Virgin Islands, probably Seribu Islands can also be promoted as a duty free shopping hub.

The World Travel and Tourism Council reports that since the 1980s, Indonesia has decided to prioritize travel and tourism for foreign exchange earnings.

Minister of Culture and Tourism I Gede Ardika says that he is targeting the tourist industry to increase foreign exchange earnings to $7.59 billion and to raise job and business opportunities by 2004.

The question now is: When will Jakarta restore its image as a safe destination so that it can develop its tourism potential to the fullest and feed the people by the money earned from it?