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Former president Megawati Soekarnoputri has criticized the
Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono administration for having no clear concept
regarding the development of the country's tourist industry.
"The government, for example, fails to promote the pluralism of
Indonesian culture as an attraction for foreign tourists," said
Megawati during a tourism seminar here Tuesday.
She said that even though the government spent US$60 million on tourism
promotion in 2005, the tourist industry suffered declines in terms of
tourist arrivals and foreign exchange revenue because, she claimed, the
government had failed to develop the industry based on a clear concept.
According to Megawati, the number of tourist arrivals in the country
declined from 5.4 million in 2004 to 4.8 million in 2005, and the
country's revenue from foreign tourists decreased from $5.2 billion to
$4.3 billion.
Megawati, who took power after the ouster of former president
Abdurrahman Wahid in mid 2001, said the government also lacked unity in
developing the tourism industry, as indicated by a lack of cooperation
among government institutions.
Megawati, who ran in Indonesia's first direct presidential election in
2004 but was defeated by Yudhoyono, suggested that the government
should involve tourist-industry players in order to promote the optimum
development of the sector.
In this way, the government could, for example, promote the pluralistic
character of the Indonesian people.
Meanwhile, former culture and tourism minister I Gede Ardhika said
tourism had many ideological, political, economic, social and cultural
aspects.
"It must be seen in holistic terms," he said, while stressing that to
date the government had only been interested in the economic aspects,
as shown by its concern over the number of tourists visiting Indonesia
and how much money they contributed to the treasury.
House of Representatives member Heri Akhmadi said the government needed
to establish a tourist industry development center to focus on those
aspects of Indonesian tourism that needed to be improved.
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