Trouble-free campaign to help tourist sector

Trouble-free campaign to help tourist sector

JAKARTA (JP): The smooth process of the 16-day election
campaign is expected to help ease foreign visitors' concerns over
Indonesia's political and security situation, a senior tourism
official said here on Thursday.

Director General of Tourism I Gede Ardika said he hoped the
improved situation would prop up the country's ailing tourism.

He said the nation has successfully proven its ability to
carry out the campaign activities without any major incidents and
the better outlook of the country's political and security
situation would be able to mend the country's international
image.

"The relatively smooth election campaign, which ends today,
shows that Indonesia is not something to fear and it also could
serve as a turning point for the country's ailing tourism," he
said.

Ardhika acknowledged that many foreigners and even local
residents feared that the election campaigns would spark further
unrest in the country, which have been marred with sporadic
racial and religious conflicts.

As many as 48 political parties joined the nation-wide
campaign prior to the June 7 general election, the fairest
elections in 44 years. Previously, people were able to guess who
would come out the winner.

Ardhika said the concerns over the situation in Indonesia
which prompted several countries to issue travel advisories and
even travel bans for their residents, had further deteriorated
the country's ailing tourism sector.

"If we can maintain this relative peace and order until after
the June 7 election, foreigners will regain their trust in us,"
he said.

He called on local tourism-related industries to take
advantage of the improved situation to help speed up the recovery
process of the tourism sector.

Companies would benefit from the situation by making more
contact with their foreign partners and informing them of the new
outlook in the country's tourism climate.

Ardhika said that the government had established bilateral
cooperation in promoting tourism-related businesses with several
countries such as China, Kyrghystan, Malaysia, Egypt, Singapore,
Australia, Argentine, Sudan and Syria.

"But private companies acted so slow in following up the
government's move and as a result, the official arrangements were
often ineffective," he said.

Chairman of the Inbound Tour Operators Club, Arievaldy
Kumarga, said many local companies involved in travel and tourism
were not aware of the opportunities. Only a few utilized the
governmental agreements and established significant cooperation
with their counterparts overseas, he said.

"Many do not know that Indonesia has certain agreements with
certain countries. I guess what is lacking here is channeling of
information from the government to the private sector," he said.
(cst)