Archive for August, 2008
Sydney (ANTARA News) - Culture and Tourism Minister Jero Wacik is scheduled to open Indonesia Festival 2008 in Melbourne, Australia, on Friday, according to Indonesian sources.
The festival would run until August 31 at the Melbourne Exhibition Hall on Nicolson Street, Carlton, the sources at the Indonesian consulate general in Sydney said.
Wacik would attend the event together with Indonesian ambassador to Australia and Vanuatu TM Hamzah Thayeb.
A 250-member delegation from West Java and other provinces in Indonesia are to participate in the festival which is also to be supported by some 150 local artists and hundreds of Indonesian students in Melbourne.
Preceded by a forum on investment in iron ore and steel industries in Indonesia, the festival would among other things promote West Java`s economic and investment potentials as well as culture and arts.
At the festival`s site, around 64 stalls have been set up, among other things, to display the main products of West Java, West Nusa Tenggara, Bali, East Kalimantan and West Sumatra, and publicize the activities of the Youth and Sports Affairs Ministry, Culture and Tourism Ministry, Investment Coordinating Board (BKPM), Trade Ministry, Industry Ministry, and the Association of Young Indonesian Businessmen (HIPMI Jaya).
Meanwhile, Indonesian consul general in Melbourne Budiarman Bahar said, held every year in the Victoran city, the Festival Indonesia had become a cohesive force for Indonesian-Australian cooperation in building better relationships at the grassroots level.
Earlier, the minister counselor for economic affairs at the Indonesian consulate general in Melbourne, Jahar Gultom, said national flag carrier Garuda Indonesia and the Indonesian Trade Promotion Center (ITPC) in Sydney would take the opportunity of Festival Indonesia 2008 to encourage Australian businessmen to take part in an Indonesian Export Product Exhibition in Jakarta in October this year.
At least 400 Australian companies were currently operating in Indonesia but many investment opportunities outside the mining and infrastructure sectors were still open to Australian companies, he said. (*)
COPYRIGHT © 2008
Source: ANTARA News
August 29th, 2008
by Asia Pulse
The Regional Board of West Nusa Tenggara´s Travel Agents Association was ready to promote tourism to attract foreign and domestic tourists.
“We are ready to increase tourist packages to make Visit Indonesia Year (VIY) 2008 a success. We have a target of seven million foreign and 223 million domestic tourists,” advisor of the association, Ir. H. Misbach Mulyadi said here Tuesday.
Misbach was a former head of the association who has resigned on Aug 25 after leading the association for two terms since 1998.
The owner of a travel agency in Mataram said travel agency associations across the country, including those in West Nusa Tenggara, were trying to promote their tourist potentials but always found difficulties in adjusting to world tourism developments.
In the meantime, the marketing of tourist objects is now conducted by offering travel packages with direct services and several facilities including transportation. For example, Lombok Island has tourism and outbound packages which consist of the panoramic views and culture. The packages are offered to individuals or groups in several types such as City Tours, Kuta Lombok Tours, Rinjani Trecking, and visits to Sendang Gile waterfall.
Other tourist objects and destinations in special packages are natural tourist sites, culinary, shopping centres, maritime parks, historical and cultural sites, in addition to golf and honeymoon tours as special offers.
Moreover, cultural festivals, traditional ceremonies, art and traditional performances, culinary and clothing exhibitions, traditional handicrafts and several sports events were also offered to visitors.
“Those packages are offered directly during the association´s road shows to several countries or through the Internet and the media,” said Misbach.
However, Misbach who is also a politician from Golkar Party, added that the program needed support from the government both at the national and regional levels, and also from airline companies.
He also stated that the government must always prepare a budget although limited needed for the packages of main tourism objects and destinations.
“More direct flights from the provinces in Indonesia to Mataram, the capital city of West Nusa Tenggara, and Lombok Island are also needed. Garuda Indonesia for example needs to increase its direct flights from and to Mataram,” said the owner of a travel agency in Mataram, A & T Holiday Travel Division.
Misbach also hoped that the regional Budget (APBD) would help facilitate foreign tourists to come to Lombok Island.
The West Nusa Tenggara office cooperated with a fast shipping company Bounty Cruises to carry tourists from Benoa (Bali) to Senggigi (Lombok).
“However, the government must also continue subsidizing Bounty Cruises,” said Misbach.
Source: http://www.property-report.com
August 29th, 2008
GENEVA (Reuters) — Sumatra’s endangered elephants and tigers should get a boost from a move by Indonesia’s government to expand one of their last havens, a national park on the island of Sumatra, the conservation group WWF said Thursday.
The area of the park, Tesso Nilo in Riau Province, is to be more than doubled to 212,500 acres. But the group warned that increased efforts would be vital to ensure that poaching and illegal logging did not continue.
WWF, whose headquarters are outside Geneva, said 60 to 80 elephants and about 50 tigers were believed to live in the area to be covered by the park.
The province at large is home to about 210 elephants, down from around 1,250 just 25 years ago, and 192 tigers, whose numbers have dropped from around 650 over the same period.
WWF said deforestation was the main reason for the decline. The clearing of carbon-rich peat land and peat forests in Riau have contributed to Indonesia’s having the world’s third highest rate of greenhouse gas emissions, the group said.
Source: http://www.nytimes.com/
August 28th, 2008
Singapore Airlines announced on 25 August that it has signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the Indonesian Ministry of Culture and Tourism (IMCT) to contribute to activities to promote Indonesia as a tourist destination as part of the ‘Visit Indonesia Year 2008′ campaign.
The airline will contribute air travel, rebated cargo and waivers of excess baggage charges, while the IMCT will make ground arrangements for the participants of agreed joint activities relating to media or educational trips.
IMCT will also contribute financially towards the cost of joint advertising and promotions in overseas markets.
Joint activities will focus primarily on promoting the image and awareness of and familiarity with Indonesia, Singapore Airlines and SilkAir and will include participation by Indonesian tourism and travel agencies in international travel trade fairs, educational and familiarisation trips, media educational trips for journalists from key markets to Indonesia, sales missions and consumer promotions.
Source: www.tradingmarkets.com
August 27th, 2008
Singapore Airlines has signed a Memorandum of Understanding alongside the Indonesian Ministry of Culture and Tourism (IMCT) to boost visitor arrivals to Indonesia.
The move will follow with a US$250,000 joint spend over a three-year period to carry out joint promotional activities in key markets that contribute to Indonesian arrivals, mainly Europe, North Asia, Middle East, Australia and the USA.
The activities will be focused on developing and promoting tourism to Indonesia in a sustainable way, with participation by Indonesia tourism and travel agencies in international travel trade fairs, educational and familiarization trips, media educational trips, sales missions and organizing ground arrangements where necessary. IMTC will contribute cash for joint advertising and promotion in overseas markets.
Singapore Airlines will contribute to the movement through air travel, rebated cargo and waiver of excess baggage charges.
“The tourism promotion MOU that we are signing today is a renewal of our long-term commitment to work closely with the Indonesian Ministry for Tourism and Culture. We have been partners in promoting Indonesian tourism for many years and I have no doubt that this new MoU will cement our already strong ties,” Singapore Airlines Executive Vice President Marketing & The Regions, Mr Huang Cheng Eng said.
“This year is declared Visit Indonesia Year 2008. The number of visitors is targeted to reach a figure of seven million. We have prepared ourselves through a integrated tourism programme across the archipelago, while in the main overseas markets we are continuously undertaking Indonesia travel promotion activities with Singapore Airlines that is constantly ready to support us,” Director General Marketing for the IMCT, Dr Sapta Nirwandar said.
Source: http://www.etravelblackboardasia.com
August 26th, 2008
Prodita Sabarini, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
A parade of traditional Indonesian fabrics ranging from hand-painted batik to ikat weaves and songket cloths utilized in contemporary designs could be said to summarize Festival Mode Indonesia — Jakarta Fashion Week 2008.
Modern cuts, combined with traditional fabrics used as accents or even as whole outfits, were seen on models sashaying the catwalk in Pacific Place Mall, South Jakarta, at the first Jakarta Fashion Week (Aug. 20 to 24).
Commencing one week before the eighth Bali Fashion Week (which starts today), Jakarta held its first ever fashion week, showcasing more than 600 collections from 47 local and Australian designers.
Publication corporation Femina Group (behind fashion and women’s magazines Dewi, Femina, and Gadis) organized the event in collaboration with the Jakarta Tourism Agency and Sunsilk Style Collection.
Aside from answering to local fashion industry challenges, the event also aims to introduce Indonesian fashion to the regional market with some 5,000 guests including foreign journalists in attendance.
The event was officially inaugurated on Wednesday by Jakarta Governor Fauzi Bowo, who promised to facilitate and support Jakarta Fashion Week in its successive years.
“This is my promise because I am certain fashion is one of the bastions of the creative industry in our country,” he said.
“In a lot of countries, creative industries including fashion have proven to drive the economy. Creative industries are flexible because they can adapt to various market situations and employ many people, making them a hugely valuable part of the economy,” Femina Group CEO Mirta Kartohadiprodjo said.
Indonesia’s fashion industry is worth some Rp 23.6 trillion (around US$2.5 billion), the biggest contributor to Indonesia’s creative industries which have a net worth of Rp 79.08 trillion.
Through fashion week, designers from the Indonesian Fashion Designers Association (APPMI) and the Indonesian Fashion Designer Council (IPMI) were eager to promote traditional fabrics in their designs. Collections were divided into categories including “Ethnic”, “Contemporary,” “Cocktail”, “Evening”, “Classic” and “Muslim wear”, and almost all designers added a touch of traditional fabrics to their collections.
On this note, Head of IPMI Stephanus Hamy said, “We, as Indonesian designers, need to carve our own identity.”
“We are indeed influenced by local cultures and traditions, but we should use this as a foundation and as a reference, and then expand from there. We need to be creative.”
With the insurgence of batik into the local fashion scene, designers at the fashion week explored other indigenous fabrics. Lurik cloth, ikat weaves and songket were all prevalent at the show.
However, the construction of the clothing was predominantly modern.
Models were dressed in A-line dresses, modified egg-shaped skirts, short pants, mini balloon skirts, blousons, high-waisted trousers, pencil skirts, mini and maxi dresses, tight fitting corsets and bustiers as well as black and purple stockings.
Sexy revealing outfits baring models’ legs and backs contrasted with more conservative designs.
Stephanus (in the contemporary segment) used central Javanese lurik cloth, with its colorful striped pattern, combined with ikat weaves from Bali and Flores, and Timorese songket. Using these traditional fabrics, Stephanus styled modern blazers and pants.
Designers in the ethnic segment drew inspiration from ethnic tribes in Indonesia. Pontianak based Oeke Toegimin used Dayak tribe ikat weaves. Earth tones dominated his structured symmetrical designs decorated with weaves in the form of unique necklines.
Lenny Agustin, who has always been inspired by traditional Indonesian clothing construction, took her inspiration from the traditional clothing of Makassar. Blousons were combined with balloon mini skirts using colorful weaves.
Era Sukamto’s show in the contemporary segment paired blousons and high-collared shirts with high-waisted trousers and pencil skirts. Era collaborated with the Pixel People Project (Bandung) to digitally produce the Parang Rusak batik pattern for her designs.
While most designers went straight to local batik, ikat and songket producers to get fabrics, Era chose to print the patterns using digital technology.
“This was so we could sustain mass production,” Era said.
Meanwhile, Rusli Tjohnardi — famous for his feminine designs — produced something different. Rusli clad models in stockings with hard colors such as cobalt blue and amethyst, and short pants. Silk, chiffon, taffeta and tulle were combined with Makassar ikat weaves that looked both modern and traditional.
From their collections, designers showed an intriguing mix of culture and modern design.
“I want to make people see the beauty in Indonesian fabric in a modern way,” designer Chossy said.
Chossy, who is showcasing his Posh Independence collection including short pants, swimsuits, transparent chiffon tunics, hand-painted batik on fine silk, organza and chiffon in black and white silhouette, said he aimed to promote Indonesian culture.
“We need to be the host in our own country. We need to promote our culture and traditional fabrics before other countries do.”
Source: The Jakarta Post
August 25th, 2008
Yogyakarta,(ANTARA News) - The number of tourists visiting Yogyakarta through the city`s Adisutjipto Airport in the first half of 2008 almost doubled from the same period last year, a tourism official said.
“The number of tourists visiting Yogyakarta in the first half of this year rose almost 200 percent. According to our monitoring at Adisutjipto Airport, the number of foreign tourists from January to March reached more than 2,300 compared to 1,300 in the same period last year,” Head of the Yogyakarta Regional Tourism Board (Baparda) Tasbir said on Saturday.
A number of the foreign tourists even came to Yogyakarta by special flights, he said.
“According to our records, five to six private planes carrying five to eight tourists each landed at Adisutjipto Airport in July,” he said.
With more and more foreign and domestic tourists visiting Yogyakarta, the province`s foreign tourist arrival target of 150,000 for 2008 was likely to be achieved, he said.
“We are optimistic the target will be achieved, the more so because the travel warnings issued by several countries on Indonesia and the European Union`s ban on Indonesian airline flights in its air space have had no significant impact on the number of tourist arrivals in the country,” he said.
The increase in the number of foreign tourists was also to be attributed to fact that two Malaysian airlines were serving the Malaysia-Yogyakarta route, he said.(*)
COPYRIGHT © 2008
Source: ANTARA News
August 25th, 2008
DENPASAR, Indonesia, Aug. 21 (UPI) — U.N. environmentalists say turtle populations in the Indian Ocean and Southeast Asian regions are being threatened by coastal tourism and fishing practices.The United Nations Environment Program said although turtle populations have increased in South Africa during the past 40 years, their numbers in eastern Australia and Madagascar have seriously declined.
Although the most common threat to marine turtles are their natural predators, incidental capture in coastal harvesting, unsustainable egg collection, poaching and a resurgence in destructive fisheries, such as the use of dynamite and poison, contribute to their decline significantly, the U.N. agency said.
“Coastal development — especially for tourist facilities — has been proceeding very fast in much of the Indian Ocean region,” said Jack Frazier, chairman of the UNEP’s turtle advisory committee. “The chances for negative impacts on nesting beaches, as well as on inshore foraging and resting areas for turtles, have increased and are continuing to increase dramatically.”
Frazier said delegations from more than 30 nations are meeting in Bali this week to review implementation of a conservation and management plan that gives particular attention to coastal development issues and fisheries interaction with marine turtles.
Source: http://www.upi.com/Science_News/
August 22nd, 2008
Visitors have been banned from hiking on Mt Anak Krakatau (GAK) in the Sunda Strait because the volcano is spewing red-hot and hazardous materials.
“The Vulcanological and Geological Disaster Mitigation Center only recommends visitors to visit within a radius of one kilometer from the eruption center,” Jumono, a staffer monitoring the volcano`s activity in Pasauran village, Cinangka subdistrict, Serang regency, said Saturday.
He said the Vulcanological and Geological Disaster Mitigation Center had declared the vulcano and its surroundings to be in a level-2 alert status as GAK was still producing volcanic quakes.
Should the spewing of red-hot materials with 1,500 celcius degrees hit someone it will likely kill the person, Jumono said, adding that this had happened to a Frenchman in 2001.
At present the eruption only happened in the southern part of Mt Anak Krakatau, he said, adding that it had 120 eruptions and quakes throughout Monday, prompting the Volcanological and Geological Disaster Mitigation Center to declare the volcano and its surroundings in a level-2 alert status.
Source: www.antara.co.id/en
August 22nd, 2008
20 August - 24 August 2008
Festival Mode Indonesia - Jakarta Fashion Week 2008 is approaching. Do not miss the biggest fashion event the year with 47 local and international designers participating in this massive show of creativity. The biggest names from the Indonesian Fashion Designers Association and the Indonesian Fashion Designer Council such as Stefanus Hamy, Taruna Kusmayadi, Valentino Napitupulu, Defrico Audy, Chossy Latu, Hengki Kawilarang, Rusli Tjohnardi, Harry Ibrahim, Syahreza Muslim and Jeanny Ang will be displaying their most striking collections.
Another event highlight is the parade of designers selected by Dewi magazine along with the array of garments by Australian designer, Akira Isogawa.
Join the variety of creative activities catered for segments of the fashion market, presented by the magazines of Femina Group such as talk shows, competitions and workshops as well as fashion shows.
This event was conceived by the Femina Group in conjunction with the Tourism Department of Jakarta and Pacific Place, the most opulent and modern shopping centre in Jakarta.
With the introduction of Sunsilk Style Collection, we at Sunsilk aim to ensure the success of this event through our participation. Sunsilk is proud to be a part of this inspirational fashion event. The well-groomed and stylish hair that provides the finishing touch to the appearance of named designer garments and accessories can only enhance the beauty of each woman.
Source: http://www.designtaxi.com/
August 21st, 2008
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