S'pore to spend $1.17m promoting RI tourism

S'pore to spend $1.17m promoting RI tourism

SINGAPORE (AFP): Singapore said Tuesday it has earmarked S$2
million (US$1.17 million) to help promote giant neighbor
Indonesia as a tourism destination.

The Tourism Cooperation Package aims to invite travel agents
from South Korea, Japan and Taiwan as well as from Europe, the
United States and Canada for familiarization visits to Singapore
and Indonesia.

Travel agents will use Singapore as a "gateway" to Indonesian
destinations such as the islands of Bintan, Bali and Lombok,
Singapore's Tourism Board said in a statement.

"The twinning of Singapore with other nearby destinations such
as Indonesia has always been a cornerstone of our regional
tourism strategy," said Asad Shiraz, the senior tourism marketing
director.

The scheme allows tourists to experience the amenities of
Singapore as a modern cosmopolitan city, and have a taste of the
rich cultural treasure and natural scenery that Indonesia offers.

Singapore's tourism board said the familiarization trips will
give travel agents an opportunity "to see for themselves that
Indonesia's tourism destinations are safe and hospitable for
leisure and business travel."

Indonesia is facing separatist rebellions in the provinces of
Aceh and Irian Jaya and a bloody Muslim-Christian conflict in the
Maluku islands.

Tensions between President Abdurrahman Wahid and a militant
parliament have also put into question the country's political
stability.

Officials have warned that a deterioration of the political
situation in Indonesia would have severe consequences on its tiny
but prosperous immediate neighbor Singapore.

The tourism cooperation package is part of a S$1.2 billion
assistance to Indonesia announced in January by Prime Minister
Goh Chok Tong.