Increase safety for tourists: City Hall
Tifa Asrianti, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
Deputy Governor Prijanto on Monday said residents should improve on the city’s security situation, in response to falling numbers of overseas visitors arriving in the capital this year.
“The level of security and safety in Jakarta affects the tourism sector,” he said at City Hall.
Prijanto expressed concerns about the declining figure, following demonstrations against the fuel price hike in May, which led to violent clashes and a car-burning.
“There are various causes for the decrease, but I believe the major reason was the student demonstrations that involved the burning of a car,” he said.
“One week after the riot, I received a lot of complaints from business sectors, including travel agencies. They said they suffered losses because many people canceled their travel plans to the capital.”
The Jakarta Statistics Agency reported the number of overseas visitors coming to Jakarta through Soekarno-Hatta International Airport, Halim Perdanakusumah Airport and Tanjung Priok Port in June was 126,063 visitors — a drop of 2.1 percent from the 128,772 visitors in May.
The hotel room occupancy rate in May was 55.2 percent, less than the 56.41 percent recorded in April, the agency added.
Agency head Djamal said this was the first time a decline was recorded in the past five years. He said Jakarta’s security and safety levels were the main factors drawing tourists to the city.
“Not only did travel agencies suffer, but hotels and other tourism-related sectors were also affected by the decline,” Prijanto said.
Jakarta is promoting itself as a center for meetings, incentives, conferences and exhibitions. The city administration is also seeking to boost visitor numbers by revitalizing the Old Town areas in West and North Jakarta.
Even though monthly visitor figures are on the decline, year-on-year data shows the number of overseas tourists and hotel room occupancy rate experienced increases of 21.53 percent and 1.46 percent respectively.
The number of overseas visitors to Indonesia is up by 3.85 percent, from 432,041 in May to 448,679 in June.
The government is trying to promote tourism in the country through its “Visit Indonesia Year” campaign. The tourism ministry said it expected seven million visitors to the country in 2008, an increase of 26.3 percent for the previous year.
Source: The Jakarta Post
Add comment August 6th, 2008