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.