Tourism bouncing back in country: Minister

Tourism bouncing back in country: Minister

Syofiardi Bachyul Jb, Padang, West Sumatra

A top government official said on Saturday that tourism in the
country had returned to normal after being hit hard by a series
of terrorist attacks, including the Bali and Marriott bombings in
2002 and 2003 respectively.

Minister of Culture and Tourism I Gde Ardhika revealed that
the number of tourists had increased since the first quarter of
this year. During that period the number of foreign tourists
coming to Indonesia stood at 1.3 million, or a 28 percent
increase compared with the last quarter of 2003.

"It is estimated that the number of tourists will again
increase by 35 percent in the second quarter of this year," said
Ardhika, after opening an interisland swimming competition and
paragliding competition at Carocok beach, Pesisir Selatan
regency, West Sumatra province.

He regretted that three countries imposed travel warnings that
suggested their citizens not visit Indonesia, which they
considered to be a hotbed of terrorists.

The countries are the United States, the United Kingdom and
Australia.

However, the travel warnings appear to have had no impact on
tourist arrivals in Indonesia. In the first quarter of this year,
the number of tourists from Australia surged by 80 percent
compared with the previous quarter, from the U.S. by 40 percent
and the United Kingdom by 30 percent.

The Bali-born minister, however, did not go into detail on the
number of foreign tourists from the three countries.

Ardhika said at the event that the government would make West
Sumatra province the gate for foreign tourists wishing to visit
western Indonesia. The initiative was supported by central
government support for the construction of Ketaping International
Airport in West Sumatra province, so that it could facilitate the
entry of tourists wishing to visit West Sumatra and other nearby
provinces in Sumatra.

He also said that the government-sponsored interisland
swimming competition and paragliding competition on July 10 and
11 was also part of the government effort to promote tourism in
the province. The swimming competition was held at Carocok
beach, participated in by 68 swimmers, 13 of whom were women.

The international paragliding competition was held separately
at Langkisau Hill in the regency, participated in by domestic and
international paragliders, including entrants from Hongkong,
Singapore and Australia.