Tourism prepares for the doldrums
Tourism prepares for the doldrums
P.C. Naommy, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
Tourism industry players lamented on Tuesday that the new visa-on-arrival policy (VOA), effective Feb. 1, would hinder the government's foreign exchange target of US$500 billion from the tourism sector this year.
"The target is nonsense," said IB Lolec, president of Pacific World Nusantara, whose core business is travel and transportation. He was speaking at a seminar on "The Dynamics of Indonesia's Tourism, an Outlook in 2004," held by the University of Indonesia's Economic and Social Research Institute (LPEM-UI).
Lolec said the government was unrealistic in setting such a high target, especially with the new VOA policy.
He also said that familiarizing immigration and airport officials with the new policy was poor, and this lack of preparation and proper training would lead to long lines and delays in processing tourists on their arrival.
Ranier Daulaw, owner of the Marin Tur Travel Biro, who also attended the seminar, expressed his frustration over the inconsistency of the VOA policy, as many potential customers had canceled their tours over the uncertainty.
"We will accept and support the policy even if it hurts the tourism business in Indonesia, but please do not be wishy-washy about the implementation date," Ranier said.
He also told The Jakarta Post that the uncertain date of enactment and lack of socialization of the policy proved that it had not been well prepared, and had thus diminished the trust of foreign travelers.
The VOA policy was issued by the Ministry of Justice and Human Rights late last year. The policy grants a visa-free facility to tourists who are citizens from countries which also provide similar facility to Indonesian citizens.
Tourists who are nationals from the United States, Australia, South Africa, Argentina, Brazil, Denmark, the United Arab Emirates, Finland, Hungary, the United Kingdom, Italy, Japan, Germany, Canada, South Korea, Norway or France are eligible for the visa-on-arrival facility from Indonesia. Citizens of Taiwan are also granted the same facility.
The new policy cuts the length of the free-visa-on-arrival stay from 60 days to 30 days. The new visa-on-arrival would also only allow visitors to stay here for 30 days.
The seminar, which was opened by keynote speaker Sultan Hamengkubuwono X, also featured a paper on Indonesian tourism based on research by Ringoringo Achmadi from LPEM-UI. The paper makes several recommendations for boosting the tourism sector, including placing the Ministry of Tourism and Culture under the Office of the Coordinating Minister of the Economy.
"Tourism is not only about culture, but also about business," said Ringoringo.
Udin Saifuddin, marketing deputy at the Ministry of Tourism and Culture, said the government and tourism industry would have to make concerted efforts to reach this year's target of five million visitors.
He added that the government had allocated a special Rp 90 billion ($1.06 million) fund to promote Indonesian tourism.
However, Udin admitted that the new visa policy could be a bitter pill for the tourism industry. "If the government really wants to boost tourism, it should allow visa-free facilities to all countries."