Tourism and image
September 14th, 2007
In the article “Indonesia needs more than pretty pictures to promote tourism” (The Jakarta Post, Aug. 30), Dewi Anggraeni wonders why Australians might be more wary visiting Indonesia than the U.S. and the UK.
Her answer is that Australians find the U.S. and UK familiar, while they find Indonesia exotic.
She ignores the most plausible explanation.
Terrorist attacks in Indonesia, such as the Sari Club bomb and Australian Embassy bomb, have specifically targeted Australians. Terrorist attacks in other countries have not specifically targeted Australians.
By nature, people feel uneasy going to places where they fear being picked out as targets. They prefer places where they incur the same risk as everybody else.
I hope writers will avoid attributing negative perceptions of Indonesia to prejudice, even when the perceptions are accurate.
JOHN HARGREAVES
Jakarta
Source: The Jakarta Post
Entry Filed under: World Tourism News
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