Archive for December, 2007
JAKARTA, Indonesia — Indonesia’s latest campaign to lure tourists got off to a rocky start after embarrassed officials acknowledged that a key slogan was ungrammatical and ordered it corrected.
“Visit Indonesia 2008. Celebrating 100 Years of Nation’s Awakening” has been printed on billboards, government Web sites and emblazoned on the sides of aircraft belonging to the national airline, Garuda.
To be correct, “Nation’s” should either be preceded by a definite article, the personal pronouns “our” or “my,” or be replaced with “National.”
“Our colleagues tried their best not to be reckless in creating the slogan, I’m sure,” said Thamrin Bachri, director general for marketing at the ministry of culture and tourism. “But we have been advised by several people to change the slogan,” he was quoted as saying in the Jakarta Post.
No one from the ministry was immediately available for comment.
The 1908 event referred to in the “100 Years” phrase is the founding of Indonesia’s first nationalist group, a development hailed here as a key step in the country’s eventual independence from Dutch rule in 1945.
Many people have questioned the wisdom of referring to the anniversary at all in a tourist campaign, given that few people outside the country have ever heard of it and would unlikely be interested in attending events to mark it anyway.
“Just delete the subtitle, tourists won’t understand it anyway. Even Indonesians don’t understand it,” said a comment posted on one unofficial Indonesian tourism Web site.
Bachri said the phrase would be changed to “celebrating 100 years of national awakening.”
President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono was to have officially launched the campaign on Jan. 1.
Indonesia drew about 5 million tourists in 2006, most to its resort island of Bali.
Source: http://deseretnews.com/article
December 28th, 2007
JAKARTA, Dec. 27 (Xinhua) — The Indonesian Culture and Tourism Ministry has launched “Visit Indonesia Year (VIY) 2008″ in an effort to attract more foreign tourists to the country, the Antaranews agency reported on Thursday.
Indonesian Culture and Tourism Minister Jero Wacik officially declared the start of VIY 2008 at a function in the Jakarta Convention Center (JCC) on Wednesday night, the report said.
It is projected that 7 million foreign tourists will visit Indonesia during the VIY 2008, and the VIY 2008 was aimed at improving the people’s welfare through the development of the tourism sector, the report quoted the minister as saying.
Jero Wacik said although the tourist arrivals in Indonesia in 2006 was 5.5 million less than its target of 6 million, he was still optimistic that the 7 million target for 2008 would be reached.
”We have prepared more than 100 events across the country in a bid to increase the foreign tourist arrivals,” Jero Wacik said before striking a gong marking the commencement VIY 2008.
He called all tourism business people and the public in general to become a good host by being hospitable, help maintain security, and keep their regions clean.
Jero Wacik said his office has prepared 15 million U.S. dollars which will be used to promote the VIY 2008 all over the world, among others, through advertisements on overseas TV stations.
Source: http://news.xinhuanet.com/
December 28th, 2007
Slamet Susanto, The Jakarta Post, Yogyakarta
Tourism in Yogyakarta, especially rural excursions, were suspended for more than a year following the massive earthquake that claimed more than 5,600 lives on May 27, 2006.
Residents have now rebuilt their damaged homes, visitors are returning and rural tourism is coming back to life.
Rural tourism involves the idea of “going back to nature” and emphasizes local cultural heritage as a tourist attraction.
Tourists can spend vacation time doing farm work, such as plowing fields and harvesting crops, or sampling traditional delicacies. They can also watch local performances, such as gejok lesung, work on handicrafts or go animal watching in the countryside.
There are some 30 rural tourism destinations in Yogyakarta, most of which are located in Sleman and Bantul regencies.
“Rural tourism stopped for a year following the quake. How could we concentrate on tourism when our homes were destroyed and many of our relatives killed in the quake,” said Subandi, an operator of rural excursions based in Kebonagung, Bantul.
Subandi told The Jakarta Post that most of the 900 homes that used to accommodate visitors had been damaged.
The agricultural museum, located in the center of the village 17 kilometers south of Yogyakarta, was also damaged. Residents saved a number of ancient agricultural tools, but the building took a long time to restore.
Most residents are now living in their own homes, which have been rebuilt, albeit modestly. The agriculture museum is also not as grand as it was.
“We are determined to revive tourism in Kebonagung, step by step,” said Subandi.
Tour operators were back in business, he said, promoting Yogya attractions in big cities and especially at schools.
“One of our targets is students, that’s why we visit schools in large cities, especially Jakarta.”
Tour groups have begun arriving in Kebonagung as the year draws to a close. Subandi expected tourism to return to normal next year, and possibly surpass 5,000 annual visitors, the average tourism draw before the quake.
Tour operators have organized various events in a bid to draw visitors. The Mulyo Pandowoharjo farmers group in Sleman has organized a new year’s plowing competition. Thanks to support from government agencies, the traditional event has been included in the annual tourist agenda.
“This will be the first time that 150 participants take part in the plowing match. We want to make it a regular event aimed at drawing more tourists,” said leader of the group Anas Sudibyo. According to Anas, between 2,000 and 3,000 tourists visit Pandowoharjo village each year.
Kajen, a village of 75 families in the Tirto area of Bantul and a favorite destination for day trips, has been pulling itself together. Restoring the village’s pottery workshop is the first order of business. When the workshop is functioning normally, visitors get to make their own pottery.
Tourists have also staring visiting a wildlife conservation area in Kentingan village — in Sleman — again. There, a seasonal population of up to 10,000 egrets is the attraction.
From November to March the birds migrate to Kentingan and visitors find that their big-group antics can be very amusing.
Tazbirt, head of the Yogyakarta tourism office said, as more tourists arrive, more tourist attractions can be developed. As a general rule, the formula being used combines natural beauty and traditional social events, including village rituals.
However, Tazbir said, well-trained tourism workers were the key to ensuring positive experiences for tourists.
In addition, Tazbir acknowledged there were still lingering problems with tourists staying away — especially from rural areas — because they were “afraid” or viewed Yogyakarta as “disaster-prone”.
In 2005 — before the quake — 120,000 foreign tourists visite. In 2006, the quake saw that number cut in half.
“The condition is gradually returning to normal, with 70,000 foreign visitors … and still counting,” he said.
“On long weekends Yogyakarta teems with domestic tourists. The streets are packed with cars bearing out-of-town registration numbers. That shows people no longer have second thoughts about visiting Yogyakarta.”
Aware of the “danger” factor, regional tourism officials have organized promotion teams to convince people that Yogyakarta is safe.
“The tourism sector has returned to normal now, thanks to active participation by every element of society — especially tour operators — in the promotion drive,” said Tazbir.
Source: The Jakarta Post
December 27th, 2007
JAKARTA (JP):The government officially launched Visit Indonesia Year 2008 on Wednesday, with the main aim of luring up to 7 million foreign tourists and booking US$6.4 billion in foreign exchange income.
To help reach the target, the government is setting aside $15 million for a domestic and international advertising blitz.
“The budget will be used to finance the promotion campaign, especially abroad,” Culture and Tourism Minister Jero Wacik told a media conference before the grand launch of the program, which will be the second for the country.
The government held its first Visit Indonesia program in 1991, which was not particularly successful, increasing the number of foreign tourists by merely 400,000 from the year earlier, according to the Central Statistics Agency (BPS).
BPS data show that in 1991, around 2.5 million foreigntourists visited the country, from 2.1 million in the previous year. (***)
Source: The Jakarta Post
December 27th, 2007
DENPASAR: Tourist agents have expressed optimism that Bali tourism will increase following the island’s success in hosting the recent climate change conference in Nusa Dua.
“We are absolutely optimistic the number of foreign tourists visiting Bali will rise in the years to come,” Bali tourist agent Made Supatra Karang told Antara.
“After the conference on climate change, the number of foreign tourists arriving at Ngurah Rai international airport has reached a daily average of 6,000,” Made said.
He said a rise in the hotel occupancy rate to 80-90 percent ahead of Christmas and New Year’s was a sign the tourism sector in Bali would soon bounce back. — JP
Source: The Jakarta Post
December 26th, 2007
The Samosir regency administration in North Sumatra is striving to promote its agricultural hinterland into a popular tourism attraction and its main source of regional income over the next three years.
Samosir Regent Mangindar Simbolon said that his administration was in the process of mapping the region as part of the effort to develop Samosir Island as a major tourism destination by 2010.
Mangindar said that the plan to promote the tourism sector had been taken based on the location of Samosir regency. Samosir, which is located in the middle of Lake Toba, is believed to be capable of attracting a large number of tourists, he said.
Samosir, a regency with a population of about 131,000, has been focusing on the development of the tourism industry after being hived off from Toba Samosir regency two years ago.
“We will rely on Simanindo, Pusuik Buit and Dewana Runggu districts in the regency as the main tourism agencies,” Mangindar told The Jakarta Post recently.
Mangindar said that his administration would take inventories in the three districts to identify their potential and to decide what needed to be done to further develop them.
He said that each of the three districts had its own unique attractions.
Mangindar acknowledged that the development of tourism in Samosir was closely related to the development of tourism at Lake Toba.
“We are determined to develop three sectors that can support each other — tourism, agribusiness and transportation,” he said.
A cooperative venture with six other nearby regencies has been developed with the support of the State Ministry for the Development of Disadvantaged Regions.
Mangindar said he hoped that under the venture, an agency to be named the Lake Toba Tourism Board would be set up in 2008 to manage the tourism sector.
Mangindar, however, expressed concern over a decrease in the number of tourists visiting Lake Toba due to mismanagement.
“I’m sure Lake Toba tourism can be revived and attract more tourists if it is managed professionally by all relevant institutions. And of course, this will increase the regency’s revenue,” he added.
“That’s why we want the board to be managed by independent professionals, not officials of the regional administrations. The regency administrations will just function as the owners,” he said.
He expressed the hope that the board would also formulate an appropriate concept for managing tourism at Lake Toba.
“We need to establish collaboration between all the regencies that are connected directly with Toba Lake in order to resolve obstacles hampering tourism development. We also need to cooperate with the private sector to overcome the problems we face,” he added.
Meanwhile, Maranti Tobing, chairman of the Samosir chapter of the Indonesian Restaurant and Hotel Association, admitted that both Samosir and Lake Toba had not been managed properly due mainly to a lack of promotion.
He said that almost all parts of Lake Toba were now covered by water hyacinth, locally known as eceng gondok, and widespread fish farming had ruined the lake’s tourism potential.
“We need a serious commitment from both the central and local governments to develop tourism in Lake Toba and Samosir,” he added.
Mangindar said that Toba Lake would be cleared of the wild eceng gondok, which would be used as raw material in the production of handicrafts. He said that the administration had also approached owners of the fish farms to urge them to move to more appropriate areas.
The regent further said that the Samosir regency administration’s budget for 2007 amounted to Rp 313 billion (US$34.70 million), but was unable to say exactly how much of this had been allocated for tourism development.
Apriadi Gunawan, The Jakarta Post, Medan
Source: The Jakarta Post
December 26th, 2007
KapanLagi.com - Kawasan Wisata Baturraden terletak dekat kota Purwokerto, yang merupakan ibukota kabupaten Banyumas, Jawa Tengah. Objek wisata ini berjarak kurang lebih 14 kilometer ke arah utara dari pusat kota Purwokerto. Sejak tahun 1928, sudah dikenal oleh masyarakat sebagai tempat wisata pegunungan. Hal ini dikarenakan letaknya yang berada di bagian selatan kaki gunung Slamet yang punya ketinggian 3.428 meter. Dengan ketinggiannya yang mencapai sekitar 640m di atas permukaan laut membuat hawa di sana cenderung dingin sekitar 18°C-25°C.
Baturraden mempunyai legenda tersendiri seputar penamaannya. Pada ratusan tahun yang lalu konon terdapat sebuah Kadipaten yang bernama Kutaliman. Adipatinya mempunyai beberapa putri dan salah satunya jatuh cinta dengan seorang gamel (pembantu penjaga kuda). Cinta mereka dilakukan secara sembunyi-sembunyi. Lama kelamaan hal itu pun diketahui oleh sang Adipati dan dia menjadi begitu marah. Akhirnya anak perempuannya dan gamel itu diusir dari rumah. Akhirnya mereka berdua menemukan suatu tempat yang indah untuk ditinggali. Tempat tersebut kemudian dikenal dengan nama Baturaden, yang yang berasal dari kata Batur dan Raden. Batur dalam bahasa Jawa berarti pembantu, teman atau bukit sedangkan Raden berarti bangsawan. Sama seperti status mereka yaitu seorang gamel dan putri adipati.
Objek wisata ini memiliki begitu banyak pesona wisata. Mulai dari air terjun, telaga, pemandian air panas, kolam renang berpapan luncur, arena permainan anak sampai kebun binatang.
Terdapat beberapa air terjun pada objek wisata ini, di mana kebanyakan berupa air yang mengalir cukup deras di antara bebatuan cadas sungai yang membelah kawasan ini. Air terjun Sungai Gumawang bersumber dari gunung Slamet dihiasi dengan batu-batuan yang terkikis oleh air yang masih alami. Curug Gede terletak di desa wisata Ketenger, kurang lebih 3 km dari lokasi wisata Baturraden. Di tempat ini wisatawan dapat menikmati air terjun dengan keindahan alam dan aneka lempengan batu.
Pemandian air panas yang ada di sini ada dua, pemandian yang terletak dalam ruangan tertutup dan terbuka. Yang tertutup berada di dekat pintu gerbang. Sedangkan yang terbuka berada kurang lebih 500 meter dari pintu gerbang berupa kolam pemandian terbuka dengan tiga buah pancuran air panas. Karena ada tiga pancuran maka dikenal dengan sebutan Pancuran Telu (telu dalam bahasa jawa berarti tiga). Pemandian Pancuran Telu ini berada di sisi lain dari bukit/lembah yang ada pada lokasi ini, karena itu pengunjung harus berjalan agak jauh ke arahnya. Dan untuk masuk ke dalamnya pengunjung mesti membayar tiket lagi. Pancuran ini merupakan sumber air panas yang mengandung belerang dengan suhu 40° C.
Di dalam pemandian itu terdapat Petilasan Mbah Tapa Angin yang konon merupakan penemu pertama kawasan ini. Bentuk Petilasan Mbah Tapa Angin ini yaitu sebuah ceruk kecil mirip gua di mana bagian dalamnya sudah berlapis keramik putih. Petilasan ini masih sering digunakan untuk bersemedi.
Air panas Pancuran Telu dipercaya mampu menyembuhkan berbagai macam penyakit kulit atau rematik dengan kandungan mineral yang ada di dalamnya. Kandungan belerang sangat terlihat di sini dengan warna batu di sana yang coklat kemerah-merahan. Karena itulah ada papan yang memperingatkan demi kesehatan pengunjung tidak berendam lebih dari 15 menit. Bila sudah selesai berendam air panas, bisa langsung mandi di bawah pancuran air dingin yang terdapat tidak jauh dari lokasi pemandian air panas.
Pancuran air panas yang lain yaitu Pancuran Pitu. Terletak 2,5 km dari Baturraden. Pancuran Pitu atau Pancuran Tujuh merupakan sumber air panas bumi dengan temperatur 60°-70° C. sumbernya berasal langsung dari kaki Gunung Slamet dan keluar melalui tujuh pancuran dan berakhir sampai ke Gua Sarabadak. Di gua ini wisatawan dapat menikmati kesegaran air hangat dan dingin yaitu merupakan pertemuan air dingin dan panas dari Pancuran Pitu.
Selain itu terdapat Telaga Sunyi yang terletak kurang lebih 3,5 km di sebelah timur Baturraden. Telaga ini begitu indah dengan airnya yang dingin dan sangat jernih. Pada musim-musim tertentu dapat dijumpai aneka warna kupu-kupu dan capung yang beterbangan di sekitar telaga.
Kebun binatang di lokasi wisata ini bernama Kaloka Widya Mandala yang baru diresmikan 17 Mei 1995. Di sini terdapat berbagai macam binatang yang berasal dari dalam maupun dari luar negeri seperti: sapi kaki lima, kambing kaki tiga, gajah, beruk, buaya Irian, ular sanca, kasuari, monyet, landak, iguana, cendrawasih, kelelawar, ayam kate, ayam mutiara, orang utan, elang bondol dan rusa. (nav/batu/cax)
Source: KapanLagi.com
December 21st, 2007
A grammatical error in Indonesia’s new 2008 tourism campaign - splashed across aeroplanes and television advertisements - is to be fixed, a tourism ministry official said Wednesday.
The new slogan of the “Visit Indonesia 2008″ campaign reads: “Celebrating 100 years of nation’s awakening.” “Nation’s”, in correct English, should read either “national” or be preceded by a definite article.
The awkward phrase is already plastered across the flagship carrier Garuda Indonesia’s A330 planes - which were inaugurated by the tourism minister Jero Wacik last week - and appears on websites and in a TV advertisement.
Ministry officials were not immediately available for comment.
But an emailed message asking about the mistake received this response from Khrisnamurti, the ministry website’s content administrator: “We have now been made fully aware of the English-language grammatical mistake in the VIY2008 logo and it will be rectified immediately.”
The 1908 event referred to in the slogan was the founding by medical students of “Boedi Oetomo”, or “Noble Endeavour,” the first nationalist group in the then Dutch-ruled colony - a fact few foreigners would know.
Indonesia declared independence in 1945.
The campaign comes as Indonesia struggles to attract tourists relative to its Southeast Asian neighbours. The archipelago nation, which has endured a series of terror bombings, natural disasters and health scares, recorded a 2.38 per cent drop in foreign tourist arrivals to four million in 2006.
Neighbouring Malaysia attracted nearly 18 million the same year while Thailand lured nearly 14 million.
Indonesia boasts an array of attractions and varied cultures across its 17,000 islands, but the focal point of tourism remains the Hindu enclave of Bali.
AFP
Source: http://www.theage.com.au/articles
December 21st, 2007
JAKARTA (Reuters) - Many more species are probably yet to be found in pristine jungle in Indonesia’s Papua province, where two mammals believed to be new to science were discovered in June, an Indonesian zoologist and a conservationist said.
Scientists found the two mammals — a pygmy possum and a giant rat — during an expedition involving Indonesian and American scientists in Papua’s Foja Mountains.
In late 2005 the same team discovered dozens of new plants and animals on their first trip to the region.
The Foja mountain range is part of the great Mamberamo Basin, the largest unroaded tropical forest in the Asia Pacific region, and has been described as a “Lost World” because of its deep isolation.
“Very few scientists have entered the area because of extremely difficult access. The likelihood of finding more new species is very high,” said Martua Sinaga, a zoologist from the Indonesian Institute of Sciences who took part in both expeditions.
Sinaga told Reuters the two-week expedition in June was part of project initiated by U.S.-based Conservation International and CBS television to film the region and its wildlife.
Such scientific explorations are not a high priority for the Indonesian government because of funding constraints, he said.
“The appreciation is different at home. Here people react coolly to news of new species discoveries,” he said.
Nev Kemp, a programme manager for Conservation International, said that there was “a lot more to discover” in the region.
“We’ve only done two survey, so a large number of habitats remain unexplored,” he told Reuters.
The area is 95 percent untouched and almost uninhabited by humans, he said.
With 42 million hectares (104 million acres) of tropical forests and some of the richest bio-diversity in the world, Papua is considered the country’s last rainforest frontier. But it is under threat from increased cutting and clearing for palm oil plantations as well as rampant illegal logging.
(Reporting by Ahmad Pathoni and Adhityani Arga, editing by Ed Davies and Alex Richardson)
Source: http://uk.reuters.com/article
December 19th, 2007
In a report by Antara News, Indonesia’s Minister for Culture and Tourism, Jero Wacik, initiated the use of the “Visit Indonesia Year 2008” (VIY 2008) logo by national carrier Garuda Indonesia’s aircrafts last Friday.
Minister Wacik believed the logo was essential in attracting tourists to Indonesia, using Malaysia as an example when its VMY 2007 logo was painted on its aircrafts, attracting 15 million international visitors.
However, Wacik said that while Indonesia drew five million foreign visitors after spending US$10 million towards promoting tourism, Malaysia only managed to attract 15 million tourists despite spending US$80 million.
“I was upset several weeks ago (to see the slugishness of airlines in painting the logo on their aircraft). If they still failed paint the logo on their planes until the President launches the Visit Indonesia Year 2008 on January 1, these companies have no sense of nationalism,” said Wacik.
President Director of Garuda Indonesia, Emirsyah Satar, said the logo had been painted on Garuda aircrafts to demonstrate the carrier’s support and commitment to the VIY 2008 campaign.
In the future, Garuda aircrafts will carry the airline’s silhouette logo which comprises the VIY 2008 logo with the words “Celebrating 100 Years of National Awakening”.
Source: http://www.etravelblackboard.com/
December 19th, 2007
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