With overwhelming sadness, frustration and bewilderment, those associated with the tourist industry and the concerned, forward thinking citizens of Indonesia must again face another example of this government doing just about everything possible to discourage visitors to this country.
Just a few notable examples (and the list could go on), include: The ongoing saga of the visa on arrival regulations that insists tourists leave the country after less than one month; poor infrastructure, trains, buses and roads; chaotic airport management with appalling facilities; a littering and pollution epidemic; an over zealous and unhelpful police force and almost no easily accessible information or advise.
Combine this with the effort by some to soil everything beautiful about Indonesia, coupled with a general lack of active national pride, and you have a very shaky foundation upon which to build a tourist industry.
In comparison to our Asian neighbors, the level of professionalism in managing and promoting tourism in Indonesia is quite obviously poor in most areas. The fact that businesses in the tourist industry are now unable to import goods necessary to service their client's needs seems another step in the right direction for killing off Indonesia's ailing foreign tourism industry completely.
As the tourist dollar, pound, yen becomes more and more scarce over the next months, even years, it is more than a possibility that Indonesia will not be at the top of tourist lists for destinations.
For a country with so many possibilities, with so much to offer, and a population with such an obvious need, it is all just so very, very sad.
MICHAEL JOHNSEY
Jakarta
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