Tourism offices face budget crises

Tourism offices face budget crises

A'an Suryana, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Cash-strapped local governments are facing difficulties in
promoting their tourist attractions as they can no longer rely on
the central government following the introduction of the local
autonomy policy, according to a senior official of the Ministry
of Culture and Tourism

Ministry secretary Sapta Nirwandar said on Tuesday that the
decentralization drive, launched early last year, gave local
governments greater power in managing their economic affairs, but
this had also created budgetary constraints for poorer regions in
funding development programs, including in the tourism sector.

"As the decentralization drive was put into effect last year,
the regions suffered a lot from budget cuts," Sapta told The
Jakarta Post on the sidelines of a working meeting between local
governments and the Ministry of Culture and Tourism here on
Tuesday.

He gave as an example the lack of funds facing the tourism
office in East Nusa Tenggara province in promoting local tourism
attractions such as the magnificent three colored Kalimutu Lake.

"Due to budget constraints, promotion is being kept to the
minimum, while the problem has been aggravated by the lack of
access infrastructure, such as minimum means of transportation
for reaching the site," Sapta said.

Overseas promotion is seen as being crucial to luring more
visitors to the country's tourist attractions, particularly given
the continued negative international media coverage of Indonesia.

Many foreign countries discourage their citizens from visiting
Indonesia, or certain parts of the country, due to security
concerns.

Andi Kasman Makkuaseng, head of the national planning office
at the National Archives of the Republic Indonesia, confirmed the
financial problems being faced by local governmental offices.

"Local archive offices in some regions are now in a state of
confusion about how to get the money to pay their electricity
bills, which now reach Rp 200 million per year," he told the
Post.

Sapta said that, unfortunately, the regional governments could
no longer expect the central government to resolve their budget
problems as the central government itself was also struggling to
finance its budget amidst the current financial crisis.

But the central government vowed it would still provide
financial assistance on a limited basis to poor regions to help
them develop their local tourist industries.

Setyanto P. Santosa, head of culture and tourism development
at the Ministry of Culture and Tourism said that for 2003, the
central government would finance up to 25 percent of the
budgetary needs of the regions in developing their tourism
industries.

The tourism sector is an important source of foreign exchange
earnings for Indonesia. This year, the government is targeting
some 5.8 million foreign visitors, compared to 5.4 million
visitors last year.