The Indonesian Hotel and Restaurant Association (PHRI) has teamed up with national airline Garuda Indonesia to offer a 73% discount to European tourists taking package holidays in the resort island of Bali in July-November 2001 and March-July 2003.

The discount will only be offered to travelers flying with Garuda from Europe to Bali.

PHRI Bali chairman I Gde Wiratha on Monday (4/3/02) said the discount would allow tourists to enjoy two kinds of packages: a six-day-five-night stay that costs $125, and an 11-day-10-night stay that costs $250.

The incentive tourism package is aimed at improving the number of arrivals of European travelers.

Tourism officials will promote the discount during the International Tourism Bourse in Berlin over March 16-19.

The Indonesian provinces of Jakarta, Banten, West Java, Yogyakarta and West Nusa Tenggara will also take part in the Berlin event.

Bali is preparing to host the Pacific Area Travel Association (PATA) conference to be held in Denpasar in 2003.

Tourism officials point out that the Bali government, authorities and people “have given assurance that the Island of the Gods remains just as safe and enjoyable as ever” despite turmoil in other parts of Indonesia.

Neighboring Lombok island, home to the Sengigi resort beach and Gili islets, has not been so peaceful recently.

State news agency Antara reported that clashes broke out on Monday between two groups of civilian guards in Tababan village, Suralaga sub district, East Lombok.

The violence reportedly intensified when local police sent officers in to bring the situation under control.

The report said there were fears the clashes had claimed several lives.

(Source: Tourism Indonesia.com)

Tourism

• The number of foreign tourists visiting Indonesia through 13 points of entry in January 2002 accounted to 307 thousand people or slightly declined by 0.88 % over December 2001 data ( 310 thousand people).
• Bali is still the top rank among tourist destinations in Indonesia with the highest number of foreign tourists (92 thousand) in January 2002, however this number experienced a decrease of 17.41 % compared to the number in January 2001.
• Meanwhile, the room occupancy rate at the classified hotels in 10 tourist destinations in December 2001 calculated at 41.42 % or slightly rose by 0.11 points compared to the occupancy rate in November 2001 (41.31 %).
• In addition, the average foreign and domestic guest length of stay in Indonesia at the classified hotels in December 2001 was 2.01 days, or decreased by 0.2 day over November 2001 figure (2.21 days).

Transportation

• The volume of cargo loading carried by Inter Island Shippings in January 2002 calculated at 18.03 million tons, rose by 2.64 % compared to the data in December 2001, while for the outgoing passengers accounted to 39 million people or decreased by 4.30 %.
• For air transportation, the number of passengers departure for international destinations in January-December 2001 period recorded at 4.54 million people, declined by 3.99 % compared to the number of passengers at the same period in 2000 (4.73 million people).
• Meanwhile, the number of passengers departure for domestic destinations was 10.39 million people or increased by 20.11 %, whilst the volume of cargo/freight carried by domestic flights reported at 164.1 thousand tons or rose by 1.80 %. More details regarding to this information can be seen in these tables below.

(Source: Tourism Indonesia.com)

ATF concludes as region tries to boost image to lure tourists

The 2002 Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) Tourism Forum (ATF) concluded on Monday, with officials claiming success in promoting the region as a safe destination for tourism.

Speaking on behalf of the Minister of Culture and Tourism I Gede Ardika who was not present at the closing ceremony, Setyanto P. Santoso, head of the tourism and cultural board said that the forum had proven to potential visitors that Indonesia, just like the rest of the countries in the region, was a nice place for a holiday.

"All participants of the ATF have witnessed that Yogyakarta and most of Indonesia is safe," Setyanto said before the audience who attended the ceremony at the Prambanan Temple.

Cambodian Tourism Minister Veng Sereyvuth shared the view and congratulated the Indonesian government for a successful forum.

"The forum has proven that Yogyakarta and Indonesia are safe," he said in his speech. His country has been named to host ATF next year.

There was no immediate explanation about the absence of I Gede Ardika who was slated to officially close the ceremony.

ATF was the first major tourism forum held after Sept. 11, which dealt a major blow to world tourism.

Ten ASEAN countries plus China, Japan and South Korea sent high-level government delegates to the forum which began on Jan. 24.

The forum discussed the impact of the September tragedy on tourism.

The image of ASEAN as a safe destination was tarnished further following recent arrests of alleged al-Qaeda linked terrorists in Malaysia, Singapore and the Philippines.

Joko Lesmana, owner of Tunas Indonesia Tours and Travel, said that many of his European customers were very surprised to find that the region, particularly Yogyakarta, was a good place to visit.

"If we knew that Indonesia, particularly Yogyakarta, was not dangerous, we would have promoted it along with Bali long ago," Joko told The Jakarta Post on Monday, quoting his company's customers.

Apart from a ministerial meeting, ATF also held a travel exchange or Travex, which was attended by 804 vendors of tourism products from nine countries, and 380 potential customers from 47 countries.

The value of trading during the event had not as yet been calculated.

Most vendors expressed satisfaction with the ATF, saying they have made many business appointments for future follow-ups.

Magdalene Lee, director of the Singapore Tourism Board, said that the forum enabled her office to add new products to be offered to buyers.

"I met with some new buyers from new emerging markets such as Russia. This is promising," she said.

(Source: Tourism Indonesia.com)

RI tourism feels the pinch of weak yen

The number of Japanese tourist arrivals in Indonesia, particularly Bali, is expected to continue to drop over the next three months due to the current weakening of the yen, according to the Association of Indonesian Travel Agents (ASITA).

The falling yen will give the Japanese, already jittery after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, another excuse to stay home.

"There has been no recovery yet in the number of tourists coming from Japan to Bali since the Sept. 11 attacks," head of ASITA's Bali chapter IGB Yudhara told The Jakarta Post Friday.

Bali is the number one indicator of the health of this country's tourism industry.

Yudhara said that about 20 percent of all foreign tourists to Bali came from Japan.

The yen has fallen more than 10 percent in the past two months, with the decline accelerating in recent days.

The Japan National Tourist Organization (JNTO) said earlier that the number of Japanese traveling overseas fell by 41.9 percent in November amid fears that emerged in the wake of the terrorist attacks.

JNTO said that the decline was likely to continue in the coming months due to the weakening yen.

"In general, a weak yen is negative for the industry because it makes prices abroad more expensive and Japanese tourists may not be attracted to shopping abroad," a spokeswoman for Japan's second biggest travel agency, Kinki Nippon Tourist, said as quoted by Reuters.

The Indonesian Central Bureau of Statistics (BPS) said in its January report that tourist arrivals in Bali between January and November had decreased by 2.26 percent to 1.33 million compared with the previous year.

The monthly BPS report also showed that tourist arrivals through the 13 main points of entry fell by 2.36 percent to 304,000 in November compared to the previous month's figure of 311,000 arrivals.

From January to November, the number of tourists was recorded at 3.88 million.

Yudhara, however, expressed confidence that tourist arrivals would start to recover in April.

"Japanese tourists will continue to prioritize Asian countries, especially Bali, as their main travel destination countries in the future," he said.

The reason was that many would-be Japanese tourists were still nervous about visiting the United States and European countries after the Sept.11 attacks, he said.

The government earlier said that it would focus its marketing and promotion on Asia and Australia this year due to the decrease in the number of visitors from the United States and Europe.

The government projected the number of foreign visitors in 2002 would reach between 5.4 and 5.8 million, compared to the 5.1 million visitor target set last year.

(Source: Tourism Indonesia.com)

U.S. Envoy Upbeat on Safety of Travel to Indonesia
New U.S. Envoy Suggests State Department Warnings Will Soon Ease.

Recent comments by U.S.A. Ambassador Ralph L. Boyce may herald an easing of the current U.S. State Department travel warnings early in 2002.

Speaking in an interview published in the Sunday, 23 December, 2001, edition of the Indonesian-language daily Kompas, Ambassador Boyce answered questions from a team of 3 Indonesian journalists. Excerpts from that interview are included below:

The experience of your predecessor suggests that being the U.S. Ambassador is not an easy task. (Interviewer's note: Boyce's predecessor, Ambassador Gelbard, was often criticized for interference in Indonesia's domestic affairs.)

Being an American U.S. Ambassador anywhere right now is not an easy task due to the high expectations placed upon you and, occasionally, the disaffection with the fact that the U.S.A. is currently so dominant on the world stage - be it in economic terms, culturally, and, frankly, in terms of power. We are the sole remaining superpower. This fact does not always make people happy. As a result, the American Ambassador has become the personification of what people feel is either good or bad about America. So, no matter where one serves, being the American ambassador today is a challenging job.

The Indonesian posting is an important one. To cite one example, last week all the American ambassadors in Asia, 25 of them, and leaders from Washington, D.C. met in Hawaii. There were three panels held at that meeting dealing with China, Japan and Indonesia. These were the three people everyone wanted to hear.

Why Indonesia?

Because Indonesia represents the 4th largest country in the world destined to become a large nation having experienced the democratic process of - in the polite terms of diplomatic parlance - moving from a non-transparent economy to a modern, democratic economy; people struggling from a very basic level and succeeding to achieve remarkable success...

Can you explain what you mean when you say Indonesia must cooperate in fighting international terrorism?

I know the Indonesian people saw what happened in New York, Washington, and Pennsylvania on September 11. This was sickening - to, with a very few exceptions - all Indonesians - Muslims, Christians, Buddhists, Hindus or any other group and was an act not connected with any religion. This was an act of barbarity. It cannot be defended. The Indonesian people and the people of the U.S. share the same view of the events of September 11.

Terrorism must be eliminated; action must be taken. This is in accordance with the global coalition. Of course, there were some points of disagreement. In the beginning, when we had just begun the Afghanistan campaign, there were demonstrations against the bombing. There were also those who disagreed with the idea of a superpower supervising women and children in Pakistan refugee camps.

It was indeed very difficult when I first arrived in Jakarta, last October. At that time, I said we can agree to disagree. Friends often don't agree, that does not mean their friendship has ended. I think the view (about the Afghanistan campaign) has already changed.

I think the people now see that the Northern Alliance is much more Islamic than the Taliban. I say much more "Islamic" than the Taliban because of the information which has emerged regarding how the Taliban treated the women of Afghanistan, their own people. This kind of information can now be known, which means that freedom now exists.

I think the Indonesian people have now read this type of information, in particular regarding the behavior of the Taliban, and at the very least now know how they allowed their country to be hijacked by the Al-Qaeda. That is why I believe the wave of protests have stopped. This is understandable, isn't it?

How about the anti-American feeling reported in Indonesia recently?

I never accepted the idea that there were widespread anti-American feelings in Indonesia. This is an impression encountered not only in the U.S.A., but elsewhere in the world. I believe this occurred because of the strength of the media. When I arrived here there was a feeling of resentment among the Indonesians at being depicted as a living in violent country and that every night on CNN they saw barbed wire and water cannons (associated with their country). I think people hated this image...

I began with reluctance to accept the concept that anti-Americanism sentiments existed in Indonesia. I believe that there is no widespread feeling of opposition to America in Indonesia.

Has the situation improved? - Clearly, the situation outside the Embassy is calmer; there is no more barbed wire. There are no more water canons, no more trucks, and most importantly - there are no more demonstrations. In this regard, the situation has improved.

Does this mean there's no problem visiting Indonesia? What about the travel warning (for Indonesia) that has been issued by the U.S. State Department?

I think that Americans should feel themselves free to come to Indonesia providing they use good judgment. If you come as tourists, perhaps you should avoid Ambon and Banda Aceh. I feel there should not be a travel advisory against travel to all of Indonesia, as though the situation was the same from Banda Aceh to Papua.

We have already changed our travel advisory. Previously we reminded Americans to not come to Indonesia, I think now we suggest people avoid unnecessary travel to Indonesia. Frankly, in my opinion, the advisory should say when you come to Indonesia use good judgment. Don't go to places that are having problems. I think this is the direction in which we are heading. In the New Year I believe that this will be the recommendation given by the U.S. Department of State.

(Source: Tourism Indonesia.com)

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