D

espite Indonesia’s huge potential, the government has not paid serious attention to effectively develop its tourism industry, according to people in the tourism industry.

The construction of infrastructure and supporting tourist facilities, promotional activities especially in overseas countries and upgrading human resources are among the concerns facing the country’s tourism sector.

Ida Bagus Sudibya, coordinator of the Bali and West Nusa Tenggara branch of the Association of Indonesian Travel Agencies, said that promotional activities were important promote Indonesia to the outside world.

“President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono must be involved directly in boosting the promotion of Indonesia. Promotion is the spearhead of the tourism industry,” Sudibya said.

He also said that the current promotional activities launched by the Indonesian government lacked variety.

Citing an example, he said Indonesia was going to take part in the International Tourism Expo in Berlin, Germany, next March.

“I heard that the Indonesian government has planned to reduce the size of its booth, which is so dismaying because other countries are working to expand their booths and activities to lure tourists to their countries,” he said.

Sudibya said he had just returned from Phnom Penh in Cambodia to attend the ASEAN Tourism Forum.

“Our neighbors such as Cambodia and Vietnam have made significant progress in their tourism industries,” he said.

He also said that the government, in this case the Culture and Tourism Ministry, rarely involved people in the tourism industry when it designed promotional activities and tourism policies.

“We have never been informed on the national budget for our tourism promotion. It has never been a transparent budget,” he said.

A.A. Gde Rai, owner of the ARMA Museum in Ubud, said that the tourism industry in Bali in particular and Indonesia in general was still weak in its marketing and promotional strategies.

“We don’t have clear concepts in developing our tourism industry despite our cultural and natural wealth. We need a special tourism ambassador and I have also urged the cultural attachés in our embassies across the world to take an active role in promoting our country,” Rai said.

Gusti Kade Sutawa, chairman of the Indonesian Alliance for Tourism, explained that Indonesia had not yet established a tourism crisis center, which could be an effective medium to inform the international tourism market on the current security conditions in Indonesia.

Sudibya added that Garuda Indonesia as the national flag carrier must be active in providing world-class flight services. “Garuda Indonesia is currently too slow in responding to the real needs of the national tourism market’s demands,” he said.

One example, Sudibya noted, was the halting of Japan Airlines’ (JAL) operational flights plying the Japan-Bali route.

“Garuda Indonesia should immediately take over JAL’s former routes to Bali as its loading factors are significant,” noted Sudibya.