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."