Imagine the irony! Ideally speaking, of all countries in Southeast Asia, Indonesia is supposed to be a perfect haven for tourists.
It is the world’s largest archipelagic country in the world. We have countless beautiful scenery to show off. Our natural assets such as valleys, hills, beaches etc. are too numerous to mention. This is not yet including the exotic world beneath our vast waters.
We have cultures so diverse that each offers completely different windows to another world unknown to foreigners. Our variety of food is also simply too good to miss. Furthermore, compared to other destinations, the cost of vacations here is inexpensive.
So why are we lagging behind? Instead of seeing Indonesia as an endless experience for both natural and cultural discoveries, the world only knows Bali and almost nothing beyond. Indonesia is not even in the top 10 of favorite tourist destinations in the region. Something is not right. We are certainly not selling our tourism aggressive enough.
The best and fastest way to sell Indonesia is through mass media advertisements and such efforts must be government-sponsored, considering that improved tourism will also benefit the public as a whole. The Singapore, Hong Kong and Malaysia tourism boards have been flooding the world with their enticing advertisements through TV, magazines and billboards. I don’t see why we cannot duplicate their tactics.
But again there is nothing like personal advertising. The surest way to get tourists is by personal invitations. Friends always visit one another. Each of us is a tourist ambassador for our country. The point is, please abolish that narrow-minded worse-than-colonial rent-seeking fiscal policy for outbound travelers. Let us be free and make connections with the outside world. If each of us can introduce ourselves to five people in foreign lands, imagine the potential impact!
There is no tourism without first generating the world’s interest and awareness. What better way to do just that than through personal relationships?
And also do not forget to upgrade our dire transportation infrastructure. Tourism is a business of selling dreams. Make sure that those dreams are easily accessible.
S. WIRAWAN
Tangerang, Banten
Source: The Jakarta Post
October 19th, 2007
By Heri Retnowati
NGANCAR, Indonesia (Reuters) - Indonesia remained on high alert on Thursday for a possible eruption of a rumbling volcano in eastern Java, but many residents near Mount Kelud refused to leave their homes despite an order to evacuate.
The alert on the volcano, one of Indonesia’s deadliest and located 90 km (55 miles) southwest of its second-largest city, Surabaya, was raised to maximum late on Tuesday, meaning it could erupt within 24 hours.
Authorities had ordered the evacuation of more than 100,000 people from a 10-km (6-mile) zone near the 1,731-metre (5,712-foot) volcano.
But many locals have refused to go, reluctant to leave possessions untended and complaining about inadequate food and shelter provided in safer zones.
“Why should I evacuate? We were not tended to yesterday, why would it be any different today?,” said Mariyatun, a resident from the village of Sugihwaras.
Sugihwaras, located 7 km from the crater, suffered major losses during an eruption in 1990. More than a hundred of its residents died and lava destroyed much of the village.
“The volcano is not going to erupt. I haven’t seen the signs”, added Mariyatun, who like many Indonesians uses one name.
Rescue officials knocked on every door on Wednesday night, urging villagers to go to the shelters, but the trucks brought to take people to shelters left empty.
Experts said the danger was certainly not over, despite a fall in the number of volcanic earthquakes since Tuesday.
“Magma is already very close to the surface and the temperature in the crater lake is rising. It is now over 37 degrees Celsius (98.6F), which is a sharp rise from the previous week,” Saut Simatupang, an official at Indonesia’s Centre for Volcanology and Geological Hazard Mitigation, told Reuters.
The official said the number of volcanic quakes had fallen from 532 on Tuesday to 151 on Wednesday. On Thursday morning, there had only been 16 quakes, he said.
A Reuters witness saw fine ash raining down for about an hour on Wednesday night in the village of Ngancar and health officials said that masks had been handed out in some areas.
Simatupang said the ash did not appear to have come from the latest seismic activity.
“We have not observed any clouds of ash coming down the slopes. That must have been strong wind coming from the east, carrying old ash lying on the edges of the crater,” he said.
The official said a full eruption could mean that Surabaya was hit by ash clouds, depending on winds, although he said the impact on the industrial city should not be significant.
“But three districts within a radius of 10 kilometres will be severely affected,” he said.
An estimated 350,000 people live within 10 km of the volcano and when it last erupted in 1990 at least 30 people were killed.
In 1919, about 5,000 died when Kelud ejected scalding water from its crater lake.
Indonesia, which sits on a belt of intense seismic activity known as the Pacific Ring of Fire, has had a series of major volcanic eruptions over the centuries.
(Additional reporting by Adhityani Arga in Jakarta)
Source: http://in.reuters.com/article/
October 19th, 2007