Jakarta - Indonesia‘s preparedness to hold the Pacific Asian Travel Association (PATA) Travel Mart 2007 meeting in the resort island of Bali on Sept 26-28 is expected to help improve the country‘s tourism industry.
"The decline of Indonesian tourism in the last two years due to natural disasters, security problems and the avian flu attack are expected to be gradually halted," Culture and Tourism Minister Jero Wacik said here on Monday.
The government and people involved in the tourism affairs have expressed a strong commitment to normalize the condition of the country‘s tourism, he said.
Therefore, all components of the tourism related parties are determined to make the PATA meeting a success, the minister said.
The meeting which will take place in Nusa Dua, Bali, will be participated in by some 1,500 tourism businessmen from 50 Bangkok-based PATA member countries.
The decision to appoint Indonesia to host the PATA travel Mart 2007 meeting was made last year.
Minister Jero Wacik hoped the PATA gathering will help lure more foreign tourists to Indonesia as one of the leading tourist destinations in the world.
The visit of world tourism businessmen and the international media to Bali is also expected to improve Indonesia‘s image, he cited.
The government will try to lure 7 million foreign tourists to Indonesia next year.
He said the resort island of Bali had served as a barometer of tourist arrivals to the country.
Jero Wacik said recently that Bali received an average of 5,200 foreign tourists each day, well above the normal level of 4,500.
The increasingly improving tourism climate in Indonesia was largely attributable to the frequent Meetings, Incentives, Conferences and Exhibitions (MICE) in the country, he said.
Source: www.antara.co.id (25 September 2007)
