Jakarta - In an attempt to boost the declining number of
foreign visitors to Indonesia, the government will re-open a dozen
international tourism offices this year, local media reports said
Tuesday.
Indonesia missed its tourist arrival target of 5.5 million in
2006, with only 4.8 million foreign visitors to the country,
according to Tourism Minister Jero Wacik.
Indonesia has set a target of 6 million foreign visitors for this
year and 8 million in 2009.
After attending a coordinating meeting on tourism on Monday, Wacik
told reporters that the government would reopen tourism
representative offices in 12 world capitals, including in Europe,
Asia and the Middle East.
The government was forced to close those offices several years ago
following the 1997 Asian Economic Crisis due to lack of funding.
'In line with the improving economy, we will reopen those offices
this year to back up the government's target of 1 million additional
tourist arrivals annually,' Wacik was quoted as saying by the
Indonesian-language Kompas newspaper.
He said Indonesia had on average only 5 million tourists annually
during the past decade, far less than neighbouring countries such as
Thailand and Malaysia. The government also will boost tourism
promotion funds to compete with its neighbours.
'Our tourism promotion budget this year is only up to 6 million
dollars, far behind neighbouring Malaysia, which is spending up to 60
million dollars for tourism promotion annually,' Wacik said.
He also said the government planned new efforts to boost security.
A string of terrorist attacks, earthquakes, tsunamis, bird flu
outbreaks, and domestic sectarian violence have damaged Indonesia's
reputation as a safe tourism destination.
However, the government's own policies have also damaged the
industry. In 2004, officials inexplicably began charging tourists
from Europe, Australia, Japan and the US - their top visitors - 30
dollars for a visa on arrival, claiming the country's pride was at
stake because Indonesians had to pay for visas to those nations.
© 2007 dpa - Deutsche Presse-Agentur 
USA
Your Talkback on this Story