Denni Hooping (the Post, 18 March) wrote a very nice letter pleading not to wait "until nothing is left".

For me as a foreigner (German), Indonesia's richness in so many regards is one of the strong reasons why I simply love to live in this country.

Hence, I am confused why Indonesia has so much difficulty in attracting more tourists. Indonesia's 2008 target of 7 million arrivals seemed to be a stiff one, i.e. with a projected growth of more than 25 percent compared to 2007.

As far as I am concerned, setting a (mid-term) target closer to Thailand's 15 million or Malaysia's 21 million tourists would be the right approach and more in line with Indonesia's potential.

Denni is quite right in saying that Indonesia's current performance is rather on the "lackluster" side, while the government claims success for the achievement of just 6.23 million visitors in 2008.

What can we expect if a good portion of the 2008 tourism promotion budget went on replacing all printed materials, after the grammatical disaster with the slogan ("nation's" changing to become "national awakening").

The Ministry of Culture and Tourism certainly is trying their best and I fully understand all the difficulties in managing complex challenges throughout the entire value-chain of the tourism sector.

However, in order to better exploit the potential of tourism for Indonesia, probably a more coordinated and professional approach would be necessary.

I remember reading about an initiative to install a Tourism Coordination Board. Has there been any progress? With 32 ministers already on the payroll, just one more coordinating minister probably would not be too difficult to justify.

It might be a good investment! Because tourism definitely has substantial economic relevance, promises a good return on investment, together with being a good source of foreign exchange income.

Bank Indonesia's 2008 current account shows a travel inflow of US$ 7.4 billion, 63 percent more compared to 2005. Not peanuts! Since Indonesians obviously also travel abroad, the outflow of foreign exchange already amounts to $5.6 billion (up 56 percent on 2005 figures). The balance of just $1.8 million did not make a big difference to prevent Indonesia's balance of payments suffering in 2008.

The World Economic Forum has just released the 2009 report of their Travel and Tourism Competitiveness Index.

Among 133 surveyed countries Indonesia ranks at No. 81 (one down from 2008). Among our "toughest" tourism competitors, Malaysia remained at No. 32, Thailand and India slightly improved to positions to 39 and 62 respectively. And apart from Singapore (No.10) there is another smaller ASEAN country ranked in front of Indonesia . Brunei at No. 69!

What are these countries doing better? We'd better start looking at the weaknesses this survey is revealing to Indonesia. Among them are: Environmental sustainability, safety and security, health and hygiene, tourism infrastructure.

Here, the 2009 government stimulus package of Rp 71.3 trillion immediately comes to mind. Why not reallocate some funds into tourism infrastructure investments? Improving Indonesia's competitiveness certainly is a pre-requisite to capitalizing on the still-good prospects of international tourism.

And may I finally add, Indonesia IS truly Asia, amazing and incredible all combined ... indeed the ultimate in diversity.

Eckart Schumacher

BSD-City, Banten

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