Travel agents asked to boost tourism in provinces
Travel agents asked to boost tourism in provinces
JAKARTA (JP): The government is calling on businesses to hold international tourist-related events in various sites beyond the country's prime cities to create more awareness on Indonesian tourism destinations for both domestic and foreign visitors.
Speaking at a press conference on the first Indian Ocean Tourist Fair, which will be held in the city on Saturday, Director General of Tourism Andi Mappi Sammeng, said yesterday that the government also wants travel agents to offer more domestic tour packages than foreign ones.
"Just for information, cities like Surabaya in East Java and Medan in North Sumatra have facilities for international conventions. Besides, the tourist attractions in the two cities are quite appealing," he said.
He also told domestic travel agents to organize more tour packages focusing on the country's culturally rich destinations.
"I think tours to Sulawesi and Kalimantan, for instance, are always attractive," he said.
There are currently two places in Indonesia which are well- known for international, large-scale conventions -- Bali and Jakarta -- due to the availability of spacious convention rooms, nearby hotels as well as tourist facilities and attractions.
Over the past few years, Bali and Jakarta were the only top sites for international and tourist-related events. Other cities recognized as adequate places for such events include Yogyakarta and Bandung in West Java.
Medan, Surabaya, Batam in Riau, Ujungpandang in South Sulawesi and Manado in North Sulawesi now have more star-rated hotels and meeting facilities, which can increase their popularity for convention sites.
Andi said yesterday that on May 11 to May 17 Jakarta will host the first Indian Ocean Tourism Fair, an independent event consisting of a travel exchange, a seminar and a media workshop of the Indian Ocean Tourism Organization.
Indian Ocean Tourism Organization has selected PT Setia Mice Indonesia, a private conference organizer, to organize similar fairs in Indonesia every year until 2000.
Setia Mice's president, Nurdin Purnomo, who is also the fair's project director, said that he would consider other cities beyond Jakarta as sites for such a fair after 1997.
Andi said there are about two billion people in the Indian Ocean nations who are a potential market for Indonesia's tourism industry.
Twenty-five nations, including Australia, Bangladesh, Indonesia, India, Madagascar, Maldives, Seychelles, Singapore, Tanzania and Yemen, are to be the core Indian Ocean Region members.
Indonesia last year saw 4.3 million foreign tourist arrivals, up by 7 percent from 4.01 million in 1994. (icn)