Letter: Forward-looking tourism officials

This refers to “More cruise ports can boost tourism: Govt” (The Jakarta Post, Jan. 6).

Why does this subject arise only now, following an initiative by Singapore?

Is there nobody in Indonesia with the vision to see the lost business opportunities that this vast archipelago could gain from viable marine tourism business?

Batam should have been an island jumping off point for island tourism 20 years ago. There have been many attempts. But it cannot happen because antiquated maritime laws make island cruising an expensive proposition.

Those few operators who try to bring guests into Indonesia’s islands find they must pay high rents to an alphabet soup of maritime authorities; a competing mix of coast guards, navies, customs, marine police, quarantine and harbor masters.

Any time that a business became a success, the rules changed and the fees of the maritime administrators went up. The numbers of marine tourism operators who have gone out of business greatly exceeds the tiny few who still struggle to survive.

Indonesia’s tourist officials are worse than silent about these issues. In fact, they don’t know.

They don’t care and there is nobody interested in discussing the issues, let alone doing the lobbying needed to get restrictive rules changed.

Indonesia needs a new breed of positive pro-active forward-looking tourism officials; not the dull rent-seeking hacks that currently obstruct business development.

Kevin James
Singapore