Tourist promotion body plans to hold Travel Mart in April

Tourist promotion body plans to hold Travel Mart in April

JAKARTA (JP): The Indonesian Tourist Promotion Board (BPPI)
and the Indonesian chapter of the Pacific Asia Travel Association
(PATA) will hold the second Nusantara Travel Mart 2001 in April
next year to further encourage domestic tourism.

Chairwoman of the travel mart, and chief of PATA Indonesia,
Elly Hutabarat, said on Monday that the success of this year's
travel mart had induced BPPI and PATA to make it an annual event.

The Nusantara Travel Mart, unlike the Indonesia Tourism Mart
and Expo 2000 (TIME), targets domestic tourists instead of
foreign tourists, she said.

The Nusantara Travel Mart also targets the consumers directly,
Elly said.

"Our target visitors include the general public, companies
that usually give holiday incentives to their employees,
professional associations, government institutions, and students
of tourism academies," she said.

The mart will feature domestic destinations and tourist
packages especially designed for domestic tourists, Elly
explained.

She said that the difficulties of attracting foreign visitors
to the country had forced the industry to look to the domestic
market for their livelihood.

"Of course domestic tourism would not contribute anything in
terms of foreign exchange, but its trickle-down effect is
actually much greater than foreign tourists," Elly said,
explaining that domestic tourists would provide greater benefit
to the local food and beverages vendors than foreigners who
usually have restrictions.

She said that this year's travel mart, held in May, had
attracted the participation of 101 companies and had generated
approximately Rp 5.5 billion (US$578,947) worth of transactions.

"The mart also attracted more than 20,000 visitors," Elly said
in a media conference.

The Nusantara Travel Mart 2001, to be held at the Jakarta
Convention Center, is scheduled for April 6 until April 9.

"Experience from this year's travel mart was that buyers kept
coming long after the mart was over. We want to give holiday
-goers enough time to prepare their holidays," Elly explained
that the time frame was two months away from the national school
holidays.

The mart is expected to attract at least 250 companies to
participate, and generate transactions worth more than Rp 7.5
billion, Elly said.

One of the sponsors of the Rp 1.5 billion event is Indonesian
flag carrier PT Garuda Indonesia who will be giving discounted
tickets to participants.

Garuda vice president of marketing, planning and development
Marco Umbas said that the airline will also be giving discounts
at the mart, but that the amount has not been decided on. (tnt)