Surakarta tourism ravaged by riots

SURAKARTA, Central Java: The tourism industry is facing imminent collapse in this traditional town because foreign tourist arrivals over the past month have numbered in the mere dozen.

Since widespread riots hit many parts of the country, including Surakarta, and focused international attention on the political turmoil and unrest which are gripping Indonesia, tourists have stopped coming to Central Java's second largest town.

As a result, the shops of local craftsmen and tourist sites have been practically deserted, with only a few local tourists making an appearance.

The head of the local tourism office, Sutrisno, told The Jakarta Post that under normal conditions between 3,000 and 4,000 foreign tourists visited the town every month.

However, since the political turmoil and riots hit the country last month the flow of tourists has all but stopped.

"The state of the tourism industry here is agonizing. The drastic decline in visitors is frightening," Sutrisno remarked, adding that even domestic tourist numbers were lower because of the economic crisis.

He said that between the May riots and the end of that same month, a period of approximately two weeks, only two foreigners visited the city, one American and one Australian.

"And even then they were journalists!" he complained.

Earlier, Central Java Police Chief Maj. Gen. Nurfaizi pointed out that thousands of craftsmen and souvenir manufacturers in the province had gone bankrupt or would do so shortly because of the chronic lack of visitors.

Up to 90 percent of souvenirs on sale were usually bought by foreign tourists, he added.

He lamented the riots which hit the city in May, saying that not only had they caused billions of rupiah in material damage, but would shortly lead to massive layoffs in the tourism industry, if the situation did not rapidly improve. (45)