WTO asks countries, businesses to reconsider travel warnings
WTO asks countries, businesses to reconsider travel warnings
Leony Aurora, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
Indonesia along with the World Tourism Organization (WTO) will
ask governments and business players worldwide to reconsider
travel warnings issued on the country.
Secretary General to the United Nation's (UN) tourism body
Francesco Frangialli said during his visit here over the weekend
that some of the travel advisories for Indonesia were not based
on credible reports.
"It's normal for a country to inform its travelers what the
situation is in various parts of the world," he said. "We ask
this to be done in a balanced, fair, transparent and accurate
manner."
Frangialli said that to have a balanced travel advisory
system, countries should be involved in a dialog with governments
and business communities in the destination areas before issuing
the warning.
Indonesia has seen a large share of negative travel advisories
from several countries -- mostly from Europe, the United States
and Australia -- regarding security and terrorism issues,
especially after the October 2002 Bali bombings, the August 2003
Marriott blast and last year's Australian Embassy bomb in
Jakarta.
Although there have been numerous successes in capturing
bombing suspects and measures implemented to escalate security,
the travel warnings continue.
The recent tsunami that hit Aceh and North Sumatra along with
tourist destinations in Thailand, the Maldives and Srilanka, has
also affected the tourism industry here, analysts say.
State Minister of Culture and Tourism Jero Wacik said that 800
tourists from China canceled their trips in fear of a disease
outbreak brought on by decaying corpses of tsunami victims.
"Apparently they did not realize that Aceh and Bali, or
Yogyakarta, are thousands of miles away," he said.
The tourism minister also received reports that several
American insurance companies had refused to cover tourists
traveling to the Asia-Pacific region.
"(Because of that) people are afraid to go to the area," he
said.
Frangialli said the WTO had considered drafting a code of
conduct for travel advisories. "I'm going to push for that."
To discuss the effect the tsunamis had on the tourism sector,
the WTO will organize a special emergency session on Tuesday in
Phuket, Thailand. The organization expects to have a plan of
action for the whole affected region by the end of the session.
As part of its plan of action, the WTO had already secured
from the World Bank's investment firm, the International Finance
Corporation, a package of US$2.5 million microcredits for the
affected small and medium businesses in the sector, said
Frangialli.