Thousands of tourists make good use of free services

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)