Feb 13, 2007, 6:19 GMT
Jakarta - In an attempt to boost the declining number of foreign visitors to Indonesia, the government will re-open a dozen international tourism offices this year, local media reports said Tuesday.
Indonesia missed its tourist arrival target of 5.5 million in 2006, with only 4.8 million foreign visitors to the country, according to Tourism Minister Jero Wacik.
Indonesia has set a target of 6 million foreign visitors for this year and 8 million in 2009.
After attending a coordinating meeting on tourism on Monday, Wacik told reporters that the government would reopen tourism representative offices in 12 world capitals, including in Europe, Asia and the Middle East.
The government was forced to close those offices several years ago following the 1997 Asian Economic Crisis due to lack of funding.
'In line with the improving economy, we will reopen those offices this year to back up the government's target of 1 million additional tourist arrivals annually,' Wacik was quoted as saying by the Indonesian-language Kompas newspaper.
He said Indonesia had on average only 5 million tourists annually during the past decade, far less than neighbouring countries such as Thailand and Malaysia. The government also will boost tourism promotion funds to compete with its neighbours.
'Our tourism promotion budget this year is only up to 6 million dollars, far behind neighbouring Malaysia, which is spending up to 60 million dollars for tourism promotion annually,' Wacik said.
He also said the government planned new efforts to boost security. A string of terrorist attacks, earthquakes, tsunamis, bird flu outbreaks, and domestic sectarian violence have damaged Indonesia's reputation as a safe tourism destination.
However, the government's own policies have also damaged the industry. In 2004, officials inexplicably began charging tourists from Europe, Australia, Japan and the US - their top visitors - 30 dollars for a visa on arrival, claiming the country's pride was at stake because Indonesians had to pay for visas to those nations.
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