Tourism board wants $30m budget to promote tourism

Tourism board wants $30m budget to promote tourism

Rendi A. Witular, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

The Indonesian Culture and Tourism Board (ICTB) has asked the
Ministry of Finance for a US$30 million budget to finance the
promotion of the country's tourist attractions overseas, an
official said.

ICTB chairman Setyanto P. Santosa said on Tuesday that the
campaign was aimed at ensuring foreign tourists that the country
was a safe destination for holidays.

"We plan to use the additional budget to place advertisements
on major international TV stations such as CNN, CNBC, BBC and
other regional TV stations in Japan, Germany, France, China and
Malaysia," Setyanto told legislators during a session with the
House of Representatives Commission VI for culture, education and
tourism.

He said that the target for foreign tourist arrivals next year
was about 6 million, which is up from this year's estimate of 5.4
million. By 2005, that figure is projected to jump to more than 8
million.

ICBT is a unit under the offices of the State Ministry of
Tourism and Culture whose main job is to promote the country's
tourism.

Setyanto said that the world economic slowdown and the poor
image of the country had affected local tourism.

"To increase the number of foreign visitors, we need to make a
major push in promoting the country's image and various
attractions to the world," he said.

Setyanto said that the budget for the development of the
country's tourism was still limited compared to other countries
in Southeast Asia.

"This year the government only allocated some $3 million for
its promotional budget. This is very small compared to Malaysia
with $150 million, and Singapore with $60 million," he said.

Tourism has been a major foreign exchange earner for the
country. But Indonesia has been lagging behind its neighboring
countries in luring foreign tourists. The economic and political
crises which hit the country in late 1998 had only worsened the
situation. Foreign media reports of Indonesia being a hiding
place for international terrorist groups and the emergence of
anti-foreign sentiment following the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks
further hurt the country's image overseas and discouraged
tourists from coming.

Last year, the country saw some 5.15 million foreign tourists
visit the country, providing some $5.4 billion in foreign
exchange revenue. This was lower than the initial target of 5.4
million foreign tourists.

According to data from the offices of the State Ministry of
Culture and Tourism, in the first semester of this year, some 2.1
million foreign tourists visited the country.

State Minister of Culture and Tourism I Gede Ardika said he
was optimistic that this year's target of foreign tourist
arrivals would be achieved amid the improvement in the country's
security.

"The security problem is no longer a concern now. We'll now be
concentrating on promotional activities," he said, adding that
developing ecotourism was one of the top priorities.

Meanwhile, legislator Heri Achmadi said that the House would
approve the board's demand for the extra promotion budget, but
insisted that a clear supervision system needed to first be
installed to avoid corruption or misuse of the funds.

"We want all expenses to be accountable, since we still
receive reports from the Supreme Audit Agency (BPK) of
irregularities in the use of the state budget in both
institutions," said Heri.

Setyanto said that part of the budget would also be used to
renovate several tourist attractions, such as the National
Museum, the Dieng and Borobudur temples in Central Java, and the
Prambanan and Ratu Boko temples in Yogyakarta.