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.