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