Tourism industry may suffer another setback
The Jakarta Post, Jakarta/Denpasar
The country's tourism industry may suffer another serious setback after the bombing of the JW Marriott Hotel, unless the government takes immediate measures to tighten security.
"I have received reports from my members (tour and travel operators), that some Japanese tourists have canceled their trips to Indonesia. But I am not aware of the numbers yet," the chairwoman of the Association of Indonesian Tour and Travel Agencies, Meity Robot, told The Jakarta Post on Wednesday. "We have just gained foreign confidence, but the bombing has taken it from us again."
"We can regain this confidence faster if the government and the police respond quickly," she added, pointing out that the quick response of authorities following last year's Bali bombing attacks had been helpful to the tourism sector.
Indeed, recent statistics indicated that the tourism sector had started to recover from the impact of the Bali terror attack and the Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome epidemic. The Central Statistics Agency (BPS) reported last week that the number of foreign tourist arrivals had surged by 34.78 percent to 299,856 in June, from 222,500 in the previous month. Moreover, Ngurah Rai Airport in Bali, the country's most popular tourist destination, recorded a 65.75 percent jump in tourist arrivals during the month.
Tourism is one of the country's major foreign exchange earners and provides a huge number of jobs.
So far, however, there has been no reaction of panic from foreign visitors to the country.
"I haven't seen Jakarta hotels experiencing a deep plunge in their occupancy rates, so far," Ade Suryanto, vice chairman of hotel association, the Hotel Specialists, said.
He added that Jakarta hotels witnessed the panic of tourists in 1998 when devastating riots took place in the city.
"At that time, many hotel guests hastily packed their bags and fled," he said. "But this time, I haven't seen that happen. In fact, tourists are arriving at hotels.."
The chief of Bali Tourism Authority, I Gde Pitana, said that Bali was experiencing a similar reaction. "So far the (Marriott) explosion has not caused any negative developments on the number of both arriving and departing tourists."
Pitana dismissed rumors -- that thousands of foreign tourists had fled Bali because of the bombing -- as incorrect and baseless.
The chief of the Ngurah Rai International Airport, I Gusti Made Dhordy, substantiated Pitana's statement, claiming that everything was perfectly normal at the airport.
"I have already checked this with the airlines and the ground- staff. There have been no unusual increases in tickets booked for outbound flights or the numbers of departing passengers," Dhordy said.
Separately, State Minister of Culture and Tourism I Gde Ardika said on Wednesday, that the international community had not yet issued any travel warnings to Indonesia.
He said that a month ago, tourism ministers from Asian and Pacific countries had agreed not to issue travel warnings against each other's countries, in a bid to strengthen their cooperation in combating terrorism.