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Tourism businesses obliged to use local products
The Bali administration is planning to issue a regulation to oblige tourism-related businesses and modern retailers to use and sell local products
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T
he Bali administration is planning to issue a regulation to oblige tourism-related businesses and modern retailers to use and sell local products.
Head of the province’s Trade and Industry Agency, I Gede Darmaja, said Wednesday that the
regulation was to be enforced in an effort to boost local products in the wake of the implementation of the ASEAN China Free Trade Agreement starting this month.
“We will require hotels, restaurants and retailers to use local products for at least 50 percent of their total quota,” Darmaja said.
He said the agency had discussed the issue with the Indonesian Hotel and Restaurant Association (PHRI), Indonesian Retailers Association (Aprindo), the Agency of Cooperative, Small and
Medium Enterprises, the Agriculture Agency and the Husbandry Agency.
The agency will organize a meeting with all regental and municipal administrations throughout the province.
“We are enforcing this regulation not only because the ACFTA has started to take effect, but also based on our concerns regarding the lack of local products being used or marketed in hotels, restaurants and supermarkets,” Darmaja said.
“[Businesses] will not pay attention if we don’t make it mandatory. Therefore, we will issue a bylaw to regulate the reward and punishment mechanism. But first, we will issue a circular.”
Although hotels and restaurants always applied international standards, such as using chemical-free substances and ensuring product availability, using local products would not be a problem, he said.
“I think it will not be a problem because the quality of local meat and fruit is improving, even without using chemical substances. Organic farming in Bali is becoming more widespread.”
He added that the Trade and Industry Agency would collect data from hotels and restaurants about their quota of meat and fruit in order to estimate the potential benefits that local suppliers could reap.
Susruta, deputy chairman of Aprindo’s Bali chapter, said the association welcomed the new
regulation.
He said most of the association’s members, especially local chains, already used local products for
more than half of their quota.
But they may still need to import products that are not cultivated here, such as kiwis and red apples.
“Most retailers owned by local people market local products, including fruit, meat and foodstuffs.
There is quite a high demand from consumers.”
He added that suppliers of local products should be given training on marketing their products, including packaging and product quality.
