Minister in Meet the Press Forum

04 December 2005, 07:42:55 - (3132 hits)

On December 2, 2005, four news reporters and journalists from Foreign Correspondence Club met the Minister of Culture and Tourism of RI, H.E. Jero Wacik, to obtain the current situation on Indonesian tourism after the Kuta and Jimbaran Incidence occurred last October 1, 2005. Several national journalists were also present including the well-known former national TV reporter, Inke Maris.

Minister Wacik opened the press conference in English to honor the attending foreign journalists, and occasionally explained the situation as well in Bahasa to make sure all national journalists followed the discussion.
In the beginning of the year, occupancy rate showed promising growth. Several big cities had 80% occupancy rates. This all was disrupted by a blast in Kuta and also in Jimbaran, Bali, last October 1, 2005.

Minister Wacik said that media had a profound role in covering and distributing the news. The advancement of information technology and the availability of international newsmakers in the country made it easy to spread the news instantly.
One of the first steps taken, therefore, was to open Media Center to provide updated and balanced news surrounding the incidence. Press tours were also held and participated by international and national journalists. All of the efforts were to show that Bali is swift in recovery, improvements and necessary measures were seriously taken.

It is greatly hoped that people would come back to Bali and also visit other tourist destinations in Indonesia. The Ministry of Culture and Tourism is doing its best to market and promote Indonesia comprehensively,? said Minister Wacik who was propped by the Director of Bali Tourism Recovery Task Force, Mr. Thamrin B. Bachri, who is also the Director General for Marketing.

One of the journalists asked about the effort done to convince people who are anxious at this time to revisit Bali. Minister Wacik said that his team understands the situation very well, and it would take time to recover. His team has worked together with the national police and the intelligence to create better security systems. He also said that tourists now are becoming more mature and understand better that this sort of incident can happen anywhere, anytime, to any people.

Mr. Bachri added that the Ministry is doing a road tour and participating travel marts to spread the message especially to Asian market, plus Japanese, Chinese, and Korean market that need to fully understand the situation. Communications efforts are being taken as the Ministry is also working with foreign Public Relations (Japan and Australia) to restore Indonesian image.

Concerning the branding, Ultimate in Diversity, Minister Wacik explained that the government is trying to tell that Indonesia has various tourist attractions, both cultural and natural. Mr.Bachri also added that it is the central government responsibility to represent the many provincial-level tourism brandings in the whole country. With limited amount of promotional budget, Minister Wacik added, the Ministry needs to do an effective marketing effort in conventional markets and new markets like China, India, and the Middle East.

It is interesting to note that although Bali is suffering from such attack, people still think that Bali is their most favorite tourist island, as the Director General for Marketing, Mr. Bachri, represents the Ministry to receive an award from the TIME Asia.

The Minister greatly hoped that the media can help the Ministry to build the path for Bali to recover immediately. (source: http://budpar.go.id/news.html?id_news=0612050002)