By Andi Abdussalam
Jakarta, Dec 24 (ANTARA) - Indonesia may now crow about its success in achieving its Visit Indonesia Year 2008 (VIY 2008) target, but another challenge is waiting when it continues its VIY programs amid the global economic crisis in 2009.
After achieving its VIY 2008 moderate target, set at over 6 million foreign tourist arrivals, Indonesia is eying another target of 6.5 million during the VIY 2009 next year. The government has decided to extend its visit Indonesia year programs from 2008 to 2009.
Indonesia's tourism program this year successfully set a new record in the number of tourist visits and in the foreign exchange earnings.
"Indonesia is expected to be visited by at least 6,433,507 foreign tourists until the end of this year or an increase by 16.85 percent compared with that of 2007 which was 5.5 million," Culture and Tourism Minister Jero Wacik told a year-end press conference on Tuesday.
In term of earning, the foreign tourist visits in 2008 also contributed a high record of foreign exchange revenues to the state amounting to US$7.65 billion. This is the biggest foreign exchange income earned from tourist visits, bigger than the previous highest record of US$5.74 billion in 2000.
The success this year is thanks to the bigger number of visiting tourists and the bigger spending they made during their stay in Indonesia.
Based on a passenger exit survey 2008, the average spending per person of visitors in 2008 is recorded at US$1,178, which increased from US$970 in 2007.
The government when it launched the VIY 2008 early this year set a VIY 2008 target within a range of three grades, namely 7 million (optimistic target), 6.5 million (moderate) and 6 million (pessimistic target).
Now that it has achieved its moderate target, the government has once again set itself another target of 6.5 million in 2009, a year which is expected to experience a global economic meltdown.
Culture and Tourism Minister Jero Wacik admitted that in order to achieve the target of foreign tourist arrivals in 2009, Indonesia needed to work hard.
"We are optimistic we could achieve the foreign tourist arrival target which is set at 6.5 million in 2009 on conditions that all stakeholders, including tourism industry, will continue to make innovation in attracting visitors to the country," the minister said.
The tourism development in Indonesia next year will be based on marine and MICE (meeting, incentive, convention and exhibition) service tourism concept.
Indonesia has very interesting marine tourism charms that could be sold to tourists. It has undersea charms that could be cultivated in the form of marine sport tourism. The MICE-based tourism could also be developed in support of available infrastructure such as resorts and international class golf courses.
These tourism potentials need to be developed further. That's why the VIY as a government's well-planned program in the tourism industry sector has to be continued.
"Owing to the fact that various achievements have been made and the need to develop tourism industry in the future, we feel that the VIY programs have to be continued in 2009," Jero Wacik said.
In the meantime, former minister of culture and tourism Joop Ave expressed hope that all stakeholders of tourism industry, beginning from the government, business players down to the people must work hand-in-hand in advancing the country's tourism sector.
"Achievements made in the tourism sector in 2008 are of good category, but there are heavy challenges lying ahead in 2009," Joop Ave said during the VIY 2008 appreciation night at the 'Sapta Pesona' building in Jakarta on Tuesday.
The former minister said that tourism industry is a sector which indirectly absorbed a lot of workers. "We should not think of how many foreign tourists visiting the country and how much money has been earned but rather, how many people have relied on this industry," Joop Ave said.
The tourism sector is one of the biggest contributors to the state coffer and could serve as a means of creating a large number of job opportunities.
"That's why, the responsibility for the development of the tourism sector should not fall into the government only but also on all parties involved," he said.
The former tourism minister said that one thing which was most important in developing tourism was that all people must be aware of the importance of tourism.
"It should be borne in mind that advancing tourism in the country must be made its own sons, not foreigners. So, just turn yourselves as domestic tourists and make visits to your own country," Joop Ave said.
According to Minister Wacik, the progress of the country's tourism in 2008 was also boosted by domestic tourists. In 2008, a total of 223 million trips were made by domestic visitors, increasing 4.95 percent from 211 million trips in 2007.
The expenditures of domestic tourists reached Rp107.1 trillion, a slight increase from Rp102 trillion in 2007. ***2*** (T.A014/A/HNG/B003). (T.A014/A/A014/B003) 24-12-2008 22:17:53
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