Tourist handbooks

Tourist handbooks

From Neraca.

In the year 2000 Indonesia is predicted to be a major tourist destination in Southeast Asia. This is good news for me since I work for a tourist related company. Therefore, I welcome the government's plan which will transform the approaching millennium into a development objective.

I was happy to learn last year that Indonesia had attracted four million foreign tourists who visited regional tourist sites. This number did not include domestic visitors whose figure is much larger.

Something, however, is troubling my mind and it is related to the regional tourist service. It has come to my attention that there are no regional tourist guidebooks available in book shops. Only a small number of guidebooks are available in major bookstores. Domestic tourists like to travel, but do not know how to go about it. It would be nice if citizens could take a trip now and then without having to use the services of a travel agent.

Without tourist handbooks, attractive tourist destinations are only accessible through travel agencies.

I understand that tourist guidebooks are only printed for a limited group planning to see tourist sites, and therefore they are limited. This sort of reading material also does not attract many buyers.

I believe tourist related departments such as the Department of Tourism, Post and Telecommunications, or the Indonesian Tourism Promotion Board should print more handbooks. They could be distributed through book shops at a low price.

I firmly believe that tourism should not be a monopoly of travel agencies.

PUTU SWANDARU

Jakarta