Thousands of tourists make good use of free services
JAKARTA (JP): An estimated 15,000 foreign tourists who arrived in the country yesterday were entitled to free hotel rooms, free meals and free tours as part of the government's "Happy Day" promotion designed to lure foreign tourists back into the country.
Hundreds of tourists disembarking at Jakarta's Soekarno-Hatta and Bali's Ngurah Rai airports were surprised to be met by officials, hoteliers and travel agents handing out envelopes containing vouchers for various free services.
"It's a big surprise for me. It's very nice," said Tom Hoffman, an American tourist who received the first garland from State Minister of Tourism, Arts and Culture Marzuki Usman at Soekarno-Hatta airport yesterday.
Marzuki said around 15,000 incoming tourists would benefit from the Happy Day services.
Foreign tourists arriving in the country on Happy Day received vouchers for one free night and one free meal in any of the participating hotels, one free tour and free entrance to all recreational parks.
Foreign tourists arriving in the country on the national carrier Garuda were given a voucher entitling them to a free one- way or round-trip flight to any domestic destination within the next seven days.
A Garuda Indonesia public relations officer, Pudjobroto, said the airline had prepared 5,000 free domestic flight tickets for foreign tourists arriving in Jakarta and Bali yesterday.
The Hotel Mercure Rekso Hayam Wuruk public relations manager, Mirna A. Basalamah, added that 129 free stay vouchers had been issued to tourists yesterday.
"We lose from a financial point of view because we have to provide the guests with free accommodation and meals. But on the promotions side, we win," she told The Jakarta Post.
Sponsors
The Happy Day promotion was sponsored by the Indonesian Hotel and Restaurant Association, the Association of Indonesian Tour and Travel Agencies, the Indonesian Tourism Promotion Board, the Association of Indonesian Tourist Attractions, the Association of Four and Five-Star Hotels (Casa Grande), the Indonesian National Air Carriers Association and Garuda Indonesia.
Happy Day is the first phase of the government's "Let's Go Indonesia" campaign designed to woo tourists back into the country.
Marzuki said the campaign would cost Indonesia up to US$10 million, which he described as "a grand gesture of goodwill to the world."
The campaign was designed to revive the tourism industry which is currently facing hard times, he explained.
The industry, which has been in difficulty since last year, went into an even deeper slump after the May riots prompted many foreign countries to warn their citizens against traveling to Indonesia.
"The government is now putting a lot of effort into boosting the industry because it has suffered as a result of the economic slump and bad media coverage (of the unrest)," Marzuki said.
"The government has organized a number of tourism promotions to woo them back."
Marzuki said the second phase of the Let's Go Indonesia campaign, "the Magic Month", would begin later in August. Participating hotels, restaurants and airlines will then begin to offer special deals and packages for one full month.
Hoffman's wife Marianne said she believed the Let's Go Indonesia program was not well known abroad and suggested the government engage in more active overseas promotion.
"I'm sure that a lot more people would come if they got more information about the campaign," she said.
The government hopes to attract 4.6 million foreign tourists this year, a 10 percent decline on 1997. In the first half of this year only 1.4 million tourist visitors arrived in the country. (gis/sim)