ID :
71247
Mon, 07/20/2009 - 23:07
Auther :
Shortlink :
https://www.oananews.org//node/71247
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ASITA TAKING STOCK OF BOMBINGS` IMPACT ON TOURISM
Jakarta, July 20 (ANTARA) - The Association of Indonesian Tours and Travels (Asita) is making an inventory of the impact of Friday's hotel bombings in Jakarta's Mega Kuningan area.
"The bombings will definitely have an impact (on the tourism industry) and to know the extent of the impact we have instructed our regional chapters to take stock," Asita chairman Ben Sukma said here on Monday.
He said he could not as yet measure the negative impact of the bombings at the JW Marriott and Ritz-Carlton hotels four days ago on the tourism industry in the country.
Although some hotels in Bali had reported cancellations of foreign tourist arrivals, this could not yet be taken as reflecting the whole situation in the industry, he said.
He believed the bombings that killed nine and wounded more than 50 people including foreigners in Jakarta would not have a big impact on the industry because they were different from the bombings in Bali in 2002.
Following the Bali bombings, a large exodus of foreign tourists occurred not only in Bali but also in other regions, including Jakarta, causing a drastic drop of up to 70 percent in tourist arrivals.
"When the Bali bombings occurred all people were afraid including foreigners because the issue of terrorism was just spreading across the globe. This time, we have not seen such a trend," he said.
He said the government nonetheless had to immediately investigate the case professionally to recover world confidence in Indonesia.
In addition,he said, several international meetings that were scheduled to be held Jakarta soon had better be moved to outside Jakarta such as Bali or Yogyakarta.
The government has declared 2009 as the year of meetings, incentives, conventions and exhibitions (MICE) with a target of drawing 6.7 million foreign tourists.
The target is up around 6.2 percent from 6.4 millions projected for 2008 through the Visit Indonesia Year 2008 with foreign exchange income from foreign tourists reaching around Rp80 trillion.
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"The bombings will definitely have an impact (on the tourism industry) and to know the extent of the impact we have instructed our regional chapters to take stock," Asita chairman Ben Sukma said here on Monday.
He said he could not as yet measure the negative impact of the bombings at the JW Marriott and Ritz-Carlton hotels four days ago on the tourism industry in the country.
Although some hotels in Bali had reported cancellations of foreign tourist arrivals, this could not yet be taken as reflecting the whole situation in the industry, he said.
He believed the bombings that killed nine and wounded more than 50 people including foreigners in Jakarta would not have a big impact on the industry because they were different from the bombings in Bali in 2002.
Following the Bali bombings, a large exodus of foreign tourists occurred not only in Bali but also in other regions, including Jakarta, causing a drastic drop of up to 70 percent in tourist arrivals.
"When the Bali bombings occurred all people were afraid including foreigners because the issue of terrorism was just spreading across the globe. This time, we have not seen such a trend," he said.
He said the government nonetheless had to immediately investigate the case professionally to recover world confidence in Indonesia.
In addition,he said, several international meetings that were scheduled to be held Jakarta soon had better be moved to outside Jakarta such as Bali or Yogyakarta.
The government has declared 2009 as the year of meetings, incentives, conventions and exhibitions (MICE) with a target of drawing 6.7 million foreign tourists.
The target is up around 6.2 percent from 6.4 millions projected for 2008 through the Visit Indonesia Year 2008 with foreign exchange income from foreign tourists reaching around Rp80 trillion.
***
