Tour operators visit RI

Tour operators visit RI

JAKARTA (JP): A total of 38 tour operators from seven
countries are taking part in a family tour program organized by
the Ministry of Tourism, Art and Culture, and the Association of
Indonesian Travel Agencies (Asita), to provide information on
Indonesia's tourism conditions to those operators.

Minister of Tourism, Art and Culture Marzuki Usman was quoted
by Antara as saying that the goal of the program is to counter
negative reports by the foreign media which have severely
tarnished the country's image and prompted many tourists to
cancel their trips to Indonesia.

He said during a welcoming ceremony on Sunday that by visiting
Indonesia themselves, the tour operators will see that
Indonesia's condition is not as bad as has been reported, and
will then be more inclined to arrange tour packages to Indonesia.

During their two-weeks visit, the tour operators, which came
from Germany, the Netherlands, Taiwan, France, India, Japan and
Singapore, would visit nine tourist destinations in the country,
namely Jakarta, Bali, Bandung, Yogyakarta, Medan, Parapat,
Bukittinggi, Padang and Banjarmasin. (gis)