Come rain or high water, Indonesia in the end still manages to remain a sunny paradise for tourists worldwide. Its white sandy beaches, pristine nature and rich culture are unscathed by security problems, natural disasters and even outbreaks of disease.
Yet, in today‘s increasingly competitive tourism sector, Indonesia can no longer afford to take for granted its ability to attract more visitors to come. Other countries, including developing ones, are polishing their own attractions -- and sometimes even "stealing" others-- to grab a piece of that lucrative market of globe-trotters.
It is against this background that the Culture and Tourism Ministry organized a promotional road show in June to keep Indonesia on the tourism map.
The three-leg tour to Ukraine‘s capital Kiev, Norway‘s capital Oslo and Italy‘s fashion capital Milan was intended to open up new tourist markets, reintroduce Indonesia‘s cultural attractions to the world, and roll out the country‘s latest tourism promotion strategy: promoting events at major tourist destinations.
Regarding this strategy, known in the trade as the "Meetings, Incentives, Conventions and Exhibitions" (MICE) strategy, the Culture and Tourism Ministry‘s secretary-general, Sapta Nirwandar, said that this promotional approach was common nowadays, and Indonesia needed to do all it could not to miss out.
"The new paradigm now is not just about attracting ordinary tourists, but ensuring that all visitors become tourists," he said.
"We can do this through MICE, because by holding events, attendees are likely to visit tourist destinations during their stay. Everyone is now doing this, so we have to as well."
Indonesia already has two large events lined up -- the Pacific Asia Travel Association (PATA) Travel Mart in Bali on Sept. 25-28, which is expected to attract 1,500 travel firms and lead to deals worth some US$500 million, and the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) on Dec. 13-14, also in Bali.
The "incentives" element of MICE involves actively attracting large multinational corporations to send their employees here on all-expenses-paid vacations as incentives.
"Everyone needs a holiday once in a while to stay productive, and companies know that. So they facilitate their employees in this regard," Sapta said. "We can approach such companies, and offer them our best tourism package deals."
Indonesia is hoping to attract 6 million tourists this year, and generate US$6 billion in earnings. It wants to increase the figure to 7 million next year, during Visit Indonesia Year 2008.
The number of overseas visitors from January-July amounted to nearly 2.57 million, up nearly 13 percent from the same period a year ago, the Central Statistics Agency (BPS) reported earlier this month. Last year, only 4.87 million foreign tourists visited Indonesia, generating $4.4 billion in earnings. The original target had been 5 million.
Meanwhile, the road-show‘s stop in Kiev was aimed at opening up new markets in eastern Europe.
"Since the Ukraine‘s political and economic reform, there are now many Ukrainians who can afford and are eager to go out and see the world," said Indonesian ambassador to the Ukraine, Alexander Laturiuw.
During a meeting with local tourism officials, Indonesian and Ukrainian officials agreed to work on visa-on arrival agreements and direct flights to increase the number of Ukrainian tourists, which by June had reached 1,400, compared to 2,939 last year. Indonesia hopes to increase the figure to 4,000 this year.
From Norway, which has long been a tourism market for Indonesia but has yet to be fully exploited, Sapta expects a 20 percent increase from last year‘s 16,000 visitors. Similarly, Indonesia wants to increase the number of visitors from Italy, one of Indonesia‘s main markets in Europe, from 40,992 tourists last year.
Indonesia‘s tourism industry received a blow just after the road show when the European Union decided to ban Indonesian airlines from flying to the region on safety concerns.
The lifting of the ban is now being reconsidered, while figures from the BPS show that it resulted in no significant drop in tourist arrivals.
On Indonesia‘s hopes to consolidate its unique cultural products through the road show, the ministry‘s head of foreign cooperation, Nies Anggraeni, said this was important given the growing trend among neighboring countries to promote a number of Indonesian traditions as their own.
"Our batik, the Dayak traditions in Kalimantan, and even the West Javanese ‘angklung‘ traditional musical instrument are among the things that could be lost to other countries if we do not promote them ourselves," she said.
The road show presented cultural shows in all three cities, and a batik fashion show in Milan -- all of which received positive responses from the audiences, many of whom said they would like to visit Indonesia some day.
Source: www.thejakartapost.com (11 September 2007)