Yogyakarta is on its way to become Java's hub
Yogyakarta is on its way to become Java's hub
education
Sri Wahyuni, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
Quietly but surely, Yogyakarta is promoting itself abroad in its
bid to make itself the hub for Java's trade, tourism and
education. A set of promotional, official visits to the
neighboring countries has been planned, both for government
officials and the private sector to address these goals.
Invest Pro, which is a small, unofficial team comprising
volunteer members of different expertise having the same concern
for the province's development, has also been established to
provide provincial government executives with the input and
analysis needed for decision-making.
It was also with this Invest Pro team that Yogyakarta Governor
Sultan Hamengkubuwono X, accompanied by Provincial Secretary
Bambang Susanto Priyohadi, recently visited Singapore and Kuala
Lumpur to meet local government officials as well as the business
community.
Among prominent figures that the sultan met during the
Singapore-Malaysia visit were Singapore's ministers of
transportation and education, Malaysia's minister of manpower and
top Southeast Asian business figures, including the owner of the
Shangri-La hotel chain and senior management of the Four Seasons
group.
"The result so far has been quite promising. Some
businesspeople that the sultan met expressed an interest in
investing in Yogyakarta and helping the provincial government to
design a development plan best suited to the region," Bambang
said, adding that there existed a plan to develop Yogyakarta into
a city of education of international standard.
Bambang also said that strong criticism emerged, too, during a
meeting with business figures. This included the tourist
industry, which they criticized as not being well promoted.
"We were reminded to take the lead, especially as we have
Borobudur, a world-class attraction. We were also told to forget
the difficult, picky U.S. tourist market and concentrate more on
Europe," Bambang said.
During the visit, the sultan, who is also the ruler of
Yogyakarta Palace, also had a chance to visit the Perbadanan
Kemajuan Kraftangan Malaysia (Malaysian Craft Council) in Kuala
Lumpur to look for possible cooperation opportunities to market
Yogyakarta handicraft products in Malaysia. The sultan's wife,
GKR Hemas, similarly, met with the Malaysian prime minister's
wife to promote Indonesian batik products.
An official visit was also made to Malaysia's prominent pewter
industrial center, Royal Selangor, Kuala Lumpur, to see how the
well-known pewter products were made. Pewter is an alloy
consisting mainly of tin, in which small amounts of antimony and
copper are added to provide strength.
"We want to develop the same products back home, in Yogyakarta
style of course, especially in Kotagede, well-known as
Indonesia's leading silverwork center," Bambang said.
Hundreds of traditional silver craftsmen live in Kotagede.
However, besides its famous name, Kotagede is very dependent on a
foreign supply of silver as the raw material. Therefore, when
there is disruption in the world supply of silver that causes the
price to rise significantly, most craftsmen are forced to stop
production, as has been happening recently.
"By also producing pewter products, the raw material for which
is available back home, hopefully they will no longer be too
dependent on the foreign supply of raw materials," Bambang
explained.
Parallel with the sultan's visits for trade, investment and
the education sector, more technical tourism promotional
activities involving the private business community were also
carried out in both Singapore and Kuala Lumpur. National flag-
carrier Garuda Indonesia Yogyakarta and the Yogyakarta branch of
the Association of Tour and Travel Agencies (ASITA) became the
main sponsors for these particular activities.
"The main objective is to make Yogyakarta the hub of Java's
tourism industry. That's why what we are marketing is not just
Yogyakarta. We are also selling other Java tourist attractions
that can make use of Adisucipto (Yogyakarta) Airport as the hub,"
Bambang said, adding that the same method was also used in
marketing agricultural commodities and handicraft products for
export via Yogyakarta.
National flag-carrier Garuda Indonesia established direct,
international flights from Adisucipto Airport to Kuala Lumpur on
Feb. 21 and to Singapore on March 28. It was because of these
flights that the promotional tour, titled "The Amazing Jogja Road
Show Singapore-Kuala Lumpur" was held on May 21 through May 26
this year.
Singapore and Kuala Lumpur are considered Asia's transit
cities for tourists visiting the region. As such, therefore, tour
operators in both Singapore and Kuala Lumpur also have an
interest in marketing Indonesian destinations to tourists
entering the region via these cities.
Unfortunately, according to ASITA Yogyakarta vice chairwoman
Tusi Kuswenda, most tour operators in both of the cities hardly
marketed Yogyakarta at all, despite its being well-endowed in
cultural attractions, as most promote only Bali for leisure and
Jakarta or Bandung for textiles.
Should tourists come to Yogyakarta, they enter from either
Jakarta or Bali. Now that Yogyakarta has established direct
flights to Singapore and Kuala Lumpur, direct promotional
activities in both countries have become relevant to attract more
tourists to the ancient city, as it wants to become the hub of
Java's tourism industry.
"Promotion will not and cannot stop -- it's a continuous
process," said Tusi, adding that a similar promotional tour was
also planned for September this year to Singapore, Malaysia and
Thailand.