Tourism mart expected to make $1.27m in deals

JAKARTA (JP): The fifth annual Tourism Indonesia Mart ends today and is expected to result in US$1.27 million worth of deals made between local tourist-related businesses and their foreign counterparts, the organizing committee said on Friday.

The committee's chairman, Wuryastuti Sunario, said this would be a big drop from the deals worth $8.7 million concluded last year.

"But tourism is an industry of trust and it is more important that we have cultivated the trust of tour operators from all over the world in the past three days," Wuryastuti told reporters at a media conference.

She said this year's deals were fixed at an exchange rate of Rp 8,000 to the U.S. dollar, compared to the current market rate of around Rp 11,000 to the dollar.

At last year's mart, the rupiah was still hovering at around Rp 3,000 to the dollar.

Wuryastuti said the committee had recorded $165,000 worth of deals made in the event, which started on Wednesday, as of 12 p.m. on Friday.

She said most of those attending the event had expressed confidence that Indonesia would return to normal.

Confidence was boosted after President Habibie, who officially opened the mart on Thursday, said he would guarantee the security of foreign visitors to the country.

However, Wuryastuti said that 17 of the 137 foreign companies which had registered to participate in the event pulled out at the last minute.

"Several companies were nervous at reports of rioting in Bagansiapi-api and Kebumen and canceled their commitments, even though those places are thousands of kilometers from Jakarta," she said.

The fishing town of Bagansiapi-api in Riau and Kebumen in Central Java were among several towns around the country recently blighted by riots.

Since the May riots which led to president Soeharto's resignation, Jakarta has been safeguarded by the military and has remained relatively calm, except for a recent rise in the incidence of street demonstrations.

The remaining 120 companies from 28 countries have been meeting with representatives of 106 local tourist-related companies from 18 provinces in Indonesia.

The five-day event comes at a time when tourism in the country is suffering from a drop in the number of visitors as a result of the massive civil unrest which hit the country in May.

The economic crisis has also adversely affected the industry's cash flow and made hosting this week's event a financial strain.

However, Wuryastuti said that without the event, tourism here would suffer even more as a result of the country's negative image in the eyes of the international media.

"Things should get better now, unless the situation worsens around the special session of the People's Consultative Assembly in November." she said.

The committee has set the date for next year's event from Sept. 21 to Sept. 25. (das)