Singapore Airlines upbeat on Indonesia's tourism

Singapore Airlines upbeat on Indonesia's tourism

By Reiner S

SINGAPORE (JP): Indonesia's battered tourism is expected to
grow next year on the back of a regional economic recovery and
the country's political stability, a senior official at Singapore
Airlines (SIA) said.

SIA vice president for marketing communications and market
development Chia Boon Kuah said Indonesia had a tremendous
tourism potential with its 17,000 islands.

"Up until two years ago, tourism growth had been strong. But
it was derailed by economic (and political) difficulties. Now it
can only get better because there has been a lot of good changes
happening in Indonesia," Chia told reporters on Friday. He was
speaking on the sidelines of the "SIA Millennium Celebration," a
major tourism promotion for Singaporeans held by SIA from Nov. 19
to Nov. 21.

Tourism was one of the major foreign exchange earners for
Indonesia before the economic crisis in 1997 pushed the country
into its worst economic and political predicaments in more than
three decades.

The number of foreign tourists visiting Indonesia dropped to
3.5 million in 1998 from 5.1 million in 1997 due to escalating
political instability.

Indonesia was plagued by social and political riots, which
often targeted ethnic Chinese, prior to and after the downfall of
former president Soeharto in May 1998.

This discouraged foreign tourists, particularly Singaporeans,
from visiting Indonesia.

But the successful democratic election of President
Abdurrahman Wahid and Vice President Megawati Soekarnoputri in
October helped to significantly improve the country's political
condition.

On the economic front, there are also growing signs that the
crisis-hit economy is on the road toward recovery.

In a sign of renewed optimism, Indonesia's tourism authority
recently revised its tourist arrival target for this year from
3.9 million to 5 million.

Chia said that SIA would continue to provide support promoting
Indonesia's tourism, which was tainted by the riots.

"The prosperity of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations
(ASEAN) region is also our prosperity. So we'll continue to
promote the ASEAN region," he said.

Chia pointed out that last year alone, SIA provided some US$1
million worth of various support to the Indonesian tourism
authority to promote Indonesia's tourist destinations to the
world.

Improving

Bambang Soemantri, the managing director of Indonesian tour
operator Natratour, conceded that Indonesia's tourism would grow
next year.

"Bookings for February has already started to come in now," he
said.

He said that tourism this year was expected to be flat.

Natratour is one of Indonesia's several tour operators
participating in the SIA Millennium Celebration tourism
exposition.

"Our main objective in participating in this event is to
improve the image of our country," he said, referring to the
damaging impact the various riots had on tourism.

He pointed out that tourism in Central Java was badly hurt
when mobs destroyed a Bank Central Asia (BCA) building in
Surakarta following the announcement that Megawati had not become
president.

"It so happens that the BCA building was located beside the
branch office of Silk Air (SIA's sister airlines)," he said.

Freddy Rompas of the Lombok Tourism Promotion Board also
agreed that Indonesia's tourism would recover next year.

"What we need now is to promote Lombok and to improve the
accessibility of the area," he said, saying that there was only a
very limited number of flights to Lombok.

Chia said the S$1.8 million SIA Millennium Celebration was
designed to stimulate travel and tourism in Singapore.

He expected a 10 percent to 15 percent growth in outbound
tourists, and a 6 percent to 8 percent growth in inbound arrivals
this year.

"And the numbers will continue to grow next year," he said.

"They (Singaporeans) should continue to travel because the
economy is recovering," he said.

Some economists expect Singapore's economy to grow by five
percent this year, and between six and seven percent next year.

Celebration

Chia said that the Millennium Celebration was also designed as
a way for SIA to celebrate the millennium with Singaporeans.

SIA provided various prizes, including six grand prizes worth
S$25,000 of first class tour holidays to be won in a lucky draw
for those who bought tour packages during the three-day SIA
Millennium Celebration, which was held at Singapore's Suntec City
Convention Hall.

SIA also flew in various artists and entertainers from around
the world, including a famous Shanghai acrobatic troupe, a
fashion show group from Paris and popular R&B trio Divine from
the United States, to entertain visitors. Indonesia sent its
Ekayana dance group.

SIA expected the number of visitors to top 70,000, with more
than 20,000 tour packages to be sold during the exhibition, in
which 33 national tourist offices representing 25 countries, 39
travel agents and 25 travel related companies participated in.

"This impressive show of support by so many national tourism
bodies, travel agents and tour suppliers reflects the resurgence
in travel and tourism in this part of the world after a bleak
two-year interlude," said SIA's executive vice president
(commercial) Michael Tan in his opening address.

"The market is bouncing back following the economic crisis,
and we are once again witnessing a buoyancy in commerce as
overall confidence in the region is returning," he added.

Tan also said the exhibition would further strengthen
Singapore's reputation as a major center for travel and tourism
forums.

"At the same time, SIA will continue its relentless pursuit of
customer service excellence and innovation," he said.

Tan said that over a year ago, SIA announced a completely new
project costing S$500 million, which provides superb in-flight
and ground service.

SIA assistant manager for public relations S. Supramaniam said
that the airline would also continue to focus on investment in
human resources development.

"The secret of the real success at SIA is the people," he
said.

"We put a lot of emphasis on training," he said.

He explained that SIA was sourcing its people from various
parts of the world.

"Singapore is a small country, so we must go outside to bring
in the best people," he said.

SIA has one of the most modern crew training centers under one
roof. It was established in 1993.
Supramaniam said that the airline spent more than S$120 million
last year to train its crew.

He added that the center trains some 80 pilots per year and
between 60 and 80 flight attendants.

Supramaniam also said SIA would continue to upgrade its
aircraft fleet.

"SIA has one of the youngest fleets of any major airline, with
an average age of just five years," he said.

SIA currently operates 93 airplanes. Some 37 new planes are
"on firm order," including ten ultra-long range Airbus A340-500
aircraft which were ordered in May last year. Deliveries will
begin in 2002.