Tourist sector targets backpackers

Tourist sector targets backpackers

JAKARTA (JP): Indonesia's declining popularity as a tourist
destination has compelled the country to refashion its service
towards catering to foreign backpackers, Minister of Tourism,
Arts and Culture Marzuki Usman said yesterday.

Marzuki said that the government would develop small and
medium scale tourist enterprises in an attempt to attract low
budget foreign tourists following failed attempts to restore the
battered upper end of the market.

"If more backpackers were to come here, not only would they
spend a longer time in the country, they would also tell people
about how cheap it is to travel in Indonesia," Marzuki told The
Jakarta Post in an interview.

Low budget tourists would also be less concerned by the
country's tainted image, he said.

Without having the time to recover from last year's series of
natural disasters, tourism here suffered an even worse blow when
severe riots broke out in May. The riots resulted in over 1,000
deaths and cost trillions of rupiah in damage to property.

The riots, which led to the resignation of former president
Soeharto, triggered a mass exodus of foreign and Indonesian
nationals. Foreign nationals were advised to avoid the country
wherever possible, leaving most hotels here empty.

Although foreign tourist arrivals have picked up slightly,
they are still well below the normal rate in what is usually the
peak season.

Marzuki said developing the lower end of the tourist market
would provide many Indonesians with employment at a time of
rising poverty.

He said his office would develop programs to cooperate with
the private sector, including people from impoverished
backgrounds.

For example the development of small scale youth hostels would
be encouraged, he said.

The owner of a successful youth hostel in South Jakarta
intends to start a training program for those interested in
entering the trade, he added.

For a certain fee, participants would be able to benefit from
an insight into management schemes and how to win overseas
marketing contacts, he said, adding that interested parties could
also obtain soft loans to start their own businesses.

However, the minister's ideas won a cool response from the
owners of expensive hotels and other large tourist businesses.

They said the plan would not help to resolve their cash flow
problems because backpackers would not spend as much money as
other classes of tourist.

A backpacker spends an average of US$25 per day but can stay
in the country for months, while other tourists spend an average
of $1,238 on a three week holiday, according to the ministry.

Marzuki said backpackers would spread word of the beauty of
Indonesia and tell their friends that the country was safe and
cheap to travel in. On the other hand, he said, hiring public
relations companies and placing large advertisements to lure
foreign tourists would be very expensive.

"Advertisements and public relations costs a lot of money that
we don't have," he said.

The government funded Indonesian Tourism Promotion Board has
debts amounting to $21.5 million and is currently unable to
finance promotional activities.

Marzuki said the tourism sector could use other means to
promote their businesses, for example by targeting younger
markets in overseas universities.

"That would be an investment because young backpackers who
come here may return again in the future when they have become
professionals and then they will bring more money with them," he
said.

Marzuki said tourism in the country had begun to recover, with
hotel occupancy rates in Jakarta rising to an average of 40
percent in recent weeks.

Arrivals of independent foreign tourists in Bali has returned
to normal, but group visitor arrivals are still lower than usual,
he said. Marzuki added that women from neighboring countries like
Singapore, Taiwan and Hong Kong were very reluctant to come to
the country following reports of the widespread gang rape of
women during the May riots. (das)