Tourist industry asked to look to home in tough times

JAKARTA (JP): An overreliance on foreign tourists is one of the main factors in the worsening fortunes of the country's tourism industry, a high-ranking official said.

Deputy to the state minister of tourism and arts Udin Saifudin said on Thursday most of the local tourism-related companies suffered an immediate drop in business when there was a fall in the number of foreign tourists.

"We need to look for an alternative market such as domestic tourists to lessen the dependence on the foreign travelers," he said during the opening ceremony of the Pesta Wisata Nusantara 2000 travel mart at Jakarta Hilton Convention Center.

He said the country's growing middle class was a potential market for the local tourism industry if companies involved in the business were creative enough in promoting their services.

The government does not have definitive data on the number of local tourists. Based on data provided by the Office of the State Minister of Tourism and Art, the number of locals traveling either for recreation, family gatherings, business or education reached 123.7 million in 1999.

The data show travelers spent about Rp 15.4 trillion (US$1.97 billion), of which about 33.8 percent was used for transportation, 16.3 percent for souvenir shopping and 7.4 percent for accommodation.

About 72 percent of the travelers used public transportation and 13 percent private vehicle, with only 1.8 percent traveling by airplane. Most were away for less than three days, the data showed.

The data predicted there would be 126.13 million local travelers this year, with travel spending estimated to reach Rp 15.77 trillion.

Udin said local tourists tended to arrange their own tours, instead of opting for packages from travel agents, including choosing the destinations and booking hotels.

He said there was the potential for big business if local traveling companies could offer attractive packages.

A member of the Indonesian Tourism Promotion Board, Elly Hutabarat, said tourism-related companies should promote more interesting options of tour packages for domestic tourists.

"We must try to lure domestic tourists, who usually spend their holidays in Singapore and Hong Kong, to visit local destinations by promoting through events like this."

Elly said about 120 tourism-related companies were participating in the four-day exhibition.

She was confident that domestic tourists could at least boost help boost Indonesian tourism, which has suffered recently from the negative international image of the country.(07)