The very first Travel & Tourism Competitiveness Report prepared by the World Economic Forum was published with overall results presented in summary at the international travel forum ITB in Berlin on Thursday, March 8, 2007, reports balidiscovery.com

An exhaustive survey that compared nations in terms of factors that make a country attractive to tourism resulted in a hierarchical ranking of 124 countries. Switzerland, Austria and Germany finished in the top 3 countries for tourism, with Angola, Burundi and Chad occupying the lowest 3 rankings in the list. Also finishing among the top 10 nations (in order of appearance) were Iceland, the U.S.A., Hong Kong, Canada, Singapore, Luxembourg and the U.K.

Criteria of Competitiveness

In determining how a country stacks up in tourism terms, the World Economic Forum looked at the following factors considered to serve as the drivers of a destination's tourism, these are:

(1) policy rules and regulations;
(2) environmental regulations;
(3) safety and security;
(4) health and hygiene;
(5) prioritization of travel and tourism;
(6) Air transport infrastructure;
(7) ground transport infrastructure;
(8) tourism infrastructure;
(9) Information and communication technology (ICT) infrastructure;
(10) price competitiveness;
(11) human capital;
(12) national tourism perception;
(13) and natural and cultural resources.

Relying on publicly available data, observations from Travel & Tourism experts and independent opinion surveys the final results are intended to evaluate the "factors and polices that make it attractive to develop the Travel & Tourism sector in different countries, " reported balidiscovery.com

{mosbreak title=Indonesia Ranks  no. 60)

Indonesia Ranks  no. 60

While a complete ranking of all 124 countries is available at [World Economic Report Tourism Competitiveness Ranking] some of the more salient rankings include:

• #1 Switzerland
• #2 Austria
• #3 Germany
• #4 Iceland
• #5 The United States
• #6 Hong Kong SAR
• #7 Canada
• #8 Singapore
• #9 Luxembourg
• #10 United Kingdom
• #12 France
• #13 Australia
• #30 Taiwan
• #31 Malaysia
• #43 Thailand
• #60 INDONESIA
• #65 India
• #71 People’s Republic of China
• #86 Philippines
• #88 Vietnam
• #96 Cambodia
• #122 Angola
• #123 Burundi
• #124 Chad

In the same context, the Indonesian government has recently raised the 2007 tourism target from 5.2 million to 6 million international arrivals, this to be increased again to 7 million next year. To boost arrivals, a number of actions are planned, such as the establishment of overseas offices, and increased number of nationals to be accorded Visa on arrival. Yet the industry and a number of government officials have voiced their opinion that these targets would be difficult to reach if these are not supported by increased budgets for tourism advertising and promotion.  
 
As reported by balidiscovery.com, the Bali Post quoted  Secretary General of the Department of Culture and Tourism, Sapta Nirwandar as saying that his Department had requested a supplemental budget of Rp. 135 billion (approximately US$14.67 million) to promote Indonesian tourism to attain the accelerated target.

{mosbreak title=Formula for Tourism Promotional Spending}

Formula for Tourism Promotional Spending

Justifying the request for additional budget, Nirwandar pointed to a World Tourism Organization (WTO) calculation that a minimum spend of US$10 per each foreign tourist was needed for proper promotion. Nirwandar complained that the entire budget for the Department of Culture and Tourism for 2007 stands at Rp. 900 billion (approximately US$97.8 million) only. Although this is an increase from the Rp. 751 billion (approximately US$81.63 million) allocated in 2006, this amount is far from what was requested and yet we still face demands to open overseas travel promotional offices, to undertake international advertising campaigns and to participate in international travel marts – which all require much more funding," Nirwandar warned.

In this regard, former President Megawati, who chairs the opposition party PDIP, criticized the present government’s performance for dragging its feet, stating that during her presidency, with a meager promotional budget of US$ 3 million, Indonesia could attract 5.4 million tourists, even after the first Bali bombings. And yet now that promotion budget has been increased to US$10 million the expected target in 2007 is only 5.6 million (now raised to 6 million), reported Bisnis Indonesia.  

Criticizing Culture and Tourism Minister Jero Wacik, Megawati said that for Tourism to succeed it needs close coordination among all stakeholders, both among government agencies, the private sector, the mass media and the communities, which at the moment she sees as sorely lacking, reports Hilda Sabri for Bisnis Indonesia.

Meanwhile, from Berlin, where Minister Jero Wacik attended the ITB tourism exchange, the Minister said that Indonesia has already extended Visa on Arrival (VoA) facilities to 52 countries. Unfortunately, this fact is not sufficiently known in the market place.
To achieve the accelerated target of 6 million in 2007, the government plans to add 11 more countries to the VoA list. Another policy will be to allow more foreign airlines to fly to Indonesia, one of which is Qatar Air, who plans to fly direct to Bali.

His Department targets 1.1 million arrivals from Europe, up from around 700,000 last year. At ITB Minister Jero Wacik further plans to meet with agencies who will operate the 12 Promotional Offices that will be reopened by the Government, namely in Singapore, Malaysia, Japan, Australia, Chinese Taipei, South Korea, Great Britain, France, Germany, the Netherlands, Spain and the United States.

{mosbreak title=Depari: To be Competitive, the Travel Industry must Close Ranks and Unite}

Depari: To be Competitive, the Travel Industry must Close Ranks and Unite

Separately, celebrating the 50th anniversary of Depari, the tourism organization whose members comprise travel and tourism associations, Depari Chairman, Sri Mulyono Herlambang, warned all stakeholders that the world today is facing hyper competition in tourism. Therefore, to remain competitive, it is imperative that all stakeholders, both in the private sector and with relevant government agencies, stand united and shore up all efforts, if Indonesia wishes to be reckoned among the global players.  

Post Accidents, Authorities enforce strict Air Safety Standards

In the aftermath of two fatal air tragedies in the past three months, the government has audited all Indonesian domestic air transport operators. On Thursday evening, 22 March, the new Director General for Air Transportation, Budhi M. Suyitno, announced the results of the audit made, as follows:

Based on 20 parameters, said Budhi Suyitno, operators have been  placed into three categories. In Category One are those who have met all criteria. In category two are those that have met minimum safety standard parameters but still lack optimum performance, while in category three are those that have met minimum safety standards, but still have serious problems, that may jeopardize passenger safety. These need to be corrected within three months. Failing which, their Air Operations Certificates (AOC) will be suspended, said Suyitno.   

None of the airlines have made it into category one, Suyitno said, while falling into category three are 7 airlines. These are (1) Adam Air, (2) Jatayu (3) Kartika Airlines (4) Batavia Air; (5) Trans Wisata Air, and two cargo airlines, namely (6) Manunggal Air and (7) Tri MG Asia Airlines. If within three months no acceptable corrections have been made, these will be grounded.

Into category two are airlines, although meeting minimum safety standards, still need a number of corrections, details of which have been given to the respective operators.
These are:
(1)Garuda Indonesia
(2) Indonesia AirAsia
(3) Lion Air
(4) Merpati Nusantara Airlines
(5) Mandala Airlines
(6) Pelita Air
(7) Wing Air
(8) Riau Airlines
(9) Trigana Air
(10) Sriwijaya Air
(11) Travel Express
(12) charter operator Ekspres Transportasi Antarbenua
(13) cargo airline Republic Express.

Meanwhile, three aircrafts of Dirgantara Air have been grounded.

In an interview on ANTV Thursday night, at which were present Director General Budhi Suyitno, INACA Secretary General, Tengku Burhanuddin, and Adam Air President Director Adam Suherman on line, Suyitno explained that included among the 20 parameters of audit are the number of accidents, serious incidents, or incidents the operator has been involved in, professional human resources available, administration and management, and aircraft operations. Earlier, Media Indonesia elaborated that each parameter is given a value between 0 to 10 points. Operators meeting a value between 180-200 points will be placed into category 1, while those reaching a value of 120-180 will be placed into category 2, these are airlines showing average performance and having met minimum air safety standards. Whereas, those rated below 120 lack a number of requirements that potentially endanger safety, and, therefore, fall into category three.

Adam Air, for example, who is in Category 3 received a number of notations. One of its aircraft with all passengers and crew on board had plunged into the deep Makassar Straits on New Year’s day, killing all. Soon after, the airline experienced a serious accident in Surabaya, although all passengers were safe. Notations  on Adam Air, Sutyitno said are, among others: (a) previous audit results had not been followed up; (b) the airline had experienced more than two accidents in the past three months, and more than one serious incident besides a number of incidents. Adam Air has received 4 sanctions; and has never been given a safety award.

Asked to comment on these, Adam Air owner over the phone said that he accepted the assessment made by the government, and was most thankful for this (presumably because the airline was not grounded, as was expected by the public.ed). The Airline promised to meet all requirements and make the necessary corrections within three months.

On his side, however, INACA’s Burhanuddin said that the airline association will abide by the rules, regulations and government policies, and was most happy that these strict regulations are finally being enforced. However, the question that Burhanuddin kept reiterating, was why has it taken the government so long to enforce these, since these safety regulations had existed all along.  Therefore, government agencies must equally take responsibility for having permitted these airlines to operate despite their shortcomings.  Therefore, it s not only  airlines who must abide by safety standards, but government regulators and inspectors must also be free from private or group interests (economic, political or otherwise) and remain independent and objective. However, it is better late than never at all, Burhanuddin added philosophically.

Another regret expressed by INACA was the fact that not one single airline has made it into the Category one list. Garuda Indonesia has its own excellent maintenance facilities, that are also used by other international airlines. But, he understood, that the recent Yogya accident that killed 21 people, still remains a setback for Garuda to make it to the top list.

What INACA expected from government regulators from this point onward are firm actions and continued consistency.  

Meanwhile, Indonesian airline experts have stated their opinion privately that it is  Indonesia’s domestic airline policy which is among the most liberal even by world standards, that has placed an inordinate amount of stress on operators and pilots alike to compete. Therefore, to survive within this laissez-faire liberal policy, operators and pilots will force themselves to meet financial targets, thereby, most often jeopardizing passengers’ safety.