Surakarta to kick off aggresive tourism drive

Surakarta to kick off aggresive tourism drive

SURAKARTA (JP): This Central Java town, also known as Solo,
will launch a one-month tourist drive called the Solo Great Sales
on Oct. 15 to anticipate a greater influx of tourists with the
opening of Adisumarno airport as an international gateway.

Minister of Tourism, Post and Telecommunications Joop Ave told
reporters here yesterday that the event, called Obral Gedhe Solo
in the Indonesian language, will involve all tourist businesses,
such as restaurants, shops, tour operators, handicraft producers
and hotels.

"Visitors usually do a lot of shopping in Surakarta, which is
well-known for its batik, foods and traditional handicrafts," he
told reporters at the Mangkunegaran Palace.

He said that Surakarta, which is criss-crossed by four rivers,
is also well known for the entrepreneurship of its people.

"That's why we have selected Surakarta to hold this event, and
not Jakarta. The Obral Gedhe Solo will be held annually if the
first event is successful," he said.

He said that the state-run University of Sebelas Maret in
Surakarta had been assigned to evaluate the event and its
impacts.

"The parameters will include, among other things, how
satisfied the participating traders are. Whether they have earned
much money or not, and so on. Because the traders must be
motivated to answer honestly, we won't collect any taxes."

The event will feature a wide range of activities, including
cultural programs, industrial exhibitions, Javanese food
festivals, a trade mart and seminars.

He said that some 70 shops in Surakarta had confirmed
participation in the Rp 380 million (US$162,602) event.

During the event, restaurants will offer 10 percent discounts,
star-rated hotels will offer up to 50 percent discounts and non-
star-rated hotels will offer discounts of between 20 percent and
30 percent.

Joop Ave said yesterday that his office also has pioneered the
refurbishment of the Mangkunegaran and the Kasunanan Palaces as
cultural centers in Surakarta. "But don't ask me about the
details. What I can tell you is that the project will commence
later this year."

The Mangkunegaran Palace is a classical repository of Javanese
art and culture which was built at the end of the 18th century.

"I have also asked the University of Sebelas Maret to recom
mend to the staffs of the palaces ways to manage the heritage
housed there and how to attract Indonesians to appreciate their
own culture," he said.

Chief of the Surakarta Tourist Office, Soetrisno, told The
Jakarta Post that last year Surakarta saw 37,000 foreign tourist
arrivals, only a small portion of the 4.3 million overseas
visitors to Indonesia in 1995. "The growth rate of foreign
tourist arrivals in Surakarta has averaged 9.7 percent per year."

He said that length of stay of foreign tourists in Surakarta
was just less than two days on average.

Surakarta, whose origins date back 251 years is located in the
southeastern part of Central Java. The city currently has 14
star-rated hotels with some 925 rooms. There are also some 3,000
non-star-rated hotel rooms.

More tourists are expected to visit the city in the future
because the Adisumarmo airport is currently being expanded to
accommodate jumbo jets like the Boeing B-747-400.

Currently the Singapore-based SilkAir serves direct flights to
Surakarta three times weekly.

Long before Indonesia's independence, the city was known as a
place of enjoyment. Its reputation and its close vicinity to the
Surakarta Hadiningrat Palace have attracted large numbers of out-
of-town visitors, mainly because the palace's background is
rooted in the history of Java's famed and influential kingdom,
the Mataram kingdom.

Cultural products and art, the Pasar Klewer traditional
market, the Jurug Park and the Sangiran archeological museum are
some of the sites most attractive to foreign visitors. (icn)