Signs of life emerge after long wait

Hendarsyah Tarmizi The Jakarta Post Jakarta

Early signs of recovery in the world's travel industry have sent a ray of hope to millions of people involved in the country's tourism industry.

This new development has brought a relief to many hotel owners who have seen most of their rooms empty over the past two years. Souvenir and antique vendors, who have been compelled to change their profession due to the lack of tourists, can now resume their old jobs.

"We have been suffering for too long. The signs of positive growth in the industry have certainly brought a new lease of life," said Meity Robot, chairwoman of the Association of Indonesian Travel Agencies (ASITA).

Although the early recovery in the world's travel industry has yet to bring a positive impact on all tourist destinations, the trend is quite positive, she said.

The number of foreign tourists have continued to grow in the first quarter of this year, in the wake of signs of recovery in the world's travel industry, which has almost come to a halt following the Sept. 11 terrorist attack on the World Trade Center (WTO) in New York.

Although the growth is not so impressive, the increase is sufficient enough to bring a renewed hope for the ailing tourism sector, which has been struggling hard to survive during the past two years

The latest data issued by the National Statistics Bureau (BPS) indicates that the number of foreign tourists arriving through the country's 13 main points of entry, including Jakarta, Bali and Batam, rose by 1.35 percent to 992,020 during the January to March period from 978,820 in the same period last year.

The rise in foreign tourist arrivals through Jakarta and Batam was above average at 7.36 percent and 3.05 percent, respectively, while those through the country's main tourist destination area of Bali dropped 6.55 percent.

The monthly increase in the number of foreign tourists was, however, much more impressive, reaching 15.16 percent in March, compared to about four percent in February.

The bureau estimates that with continued improvement in the country's security situation, the encouraging trend is likely to continue.

The country's hotel industry, which has been severely hit by the slump in the world's travel industry, has also indicated positive growth, albeit fluctuating.

Although the average occupancy rate of star-rated hotels in major tourist destination areas dropped to 40 percent in February from 44.52 percent in January, the general trend remains positive.

The drop in January, which is considered one of the year's high seasons, does not really reflect the actual trend. Many hotels are upbeat that the trend will further strengthen from the second semester onward, in line with recovery in the world's travel industry, thanks to a more conducive environment in the country.

The positive development is also seen in the country's air travel industry. The number of international air passengers rose 2.94 percent to 833,700 during January this year from 809,900 during the same period the previous year, according to BPS's data.

The number of domestic air passengers, however, dropped by 5.08 percent to 1.5 million during the January to March period from 1.6 million in the same period last year.

The Sept. 11 terrorist attack against the U.S. is only one of many factors that has caused the slump in the tourism industry. In fact, the WTC tragedy only added to the many problems that had been encountered by the already weak industry.

Long before the attack, bombings and strikes in Jakarta, in addition to racial conflicts in Kalimantan, Sulawesi and Maluku had already been enough to scare visitors away.

The extensive media coverage of the conflicts during the past two years made the situation even worse. The bad picture of Indonesia as described by press reports had also given many foreign countries enough reason to exclude Indonesia from the list of recommended destinations.

Foreign tourist arrivals peaked at 5.18 million in 1997 and dropped to 4.6 million in 1998 at the height of security concerns in the country. Tourist arrivals recovered, however, totaling 5.06 million in 2000.

During the January to September period in 2001, tourist arrivals increased by six percent to 3.27 million during the same period in 2000.

The September tragedy, however, halted the increase. In 2001, the number of tourist arrivals totaled only 4.1 million.

Things have changed a lot since then. Compared to the years 2000 and 2001, the country's political and security situation this year has been much better so far. Although there are still numerous racial conflicts reported from hotspots such as Maluku, the condition is now much better.

ASITA's chairwoman, Meity, said the political situation had been improving in recent months.

But she warned that all sections of the government, political parties and the private sector should work together to maintain the situation.

"We have to end the political and racial conflicts. Without doing that, it will be difficult to turn the country into a safe place to visit," Meity said.

Besides such problems, many businessmen in the tourism industry have expressed concerns over the government's lack of effort in promoting the country's tourism sector overseas.

Although state funds allocated for the development of tourism showed a significant increase over the past two years, the government's concrete efforts to promote the country's tourism overseas were ineffective.

Compared to neighboring Malaysia and Thailand, the government's efforts to attract foreign tourists have been far from enough.

Amid the slowdown in the travel market in the United States, Europe and Japan, the two countries had launched a massive campaign to attract tourists from the Asian market. This strategy has been successful. Hotels and other tourist-related businesses, which usually rely on tourists from developed nations, are now able to survive the crisis due to the increase in Asian tourists.

Through its massive campaign, Thailand has been able to attract 10.4 million foreign tourists in 2001, compared to 9.5 million in 2000, thanks to an increase in the number of Asian tourists.

Like Thailand, Malaysia has also launched a massive promotional campaign to lure Asian tourists. The Truly Asia campaign launched by the Malaysian government, for example, managed to increase the number of Indonesian tourists by 77 percent to more than 545,000 people in 2000 from 307,375 in 1999.

Pontjo Sutowo, the chairman of the Indonesian Tourism Society (MPI) said improving the country's image would be a priority in improving tourism.

"Without changing the country's image, sales promotions, or attending international events will not be effective," he said.