Tourism mart expected to make $1.27m in deals
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)