JEDDAH, 15 January — Tourism in Indonesia will get an added boost when the ASEAN Tourism Forum (ATF) to be held in Yogyakarta is honored by the presence of President Megawati Sukarnoputri, who will officially inaugurate the event on Jan. 25.
A Royal ATF held in the ancient kingdom of Yogyakarta, with the opening venue the Kraton (palace) of Sultan Hamengku Buwono X is expected to attract 1,500 delegates according to information available here.
Indonesia is the host to the ATF for the fourth time, an event, which rotates among the ASEAN countries.
Previous ATFs were held in Jakarta (1986), Bandung (1991) and in Surabaya (1996). Again, Indonesia has selected a secondary city to play host to this gathering which, covers different components of the travel and tourism industry and the National Tourism Organizations of the 10 ASEAN countries.
The National Tourism Organizations will start meetings on Jan. 21.
Tourism ministers of ASEAN will meet in Yogyakarta on Jan. 24 and will be joined by their counterparts from China, Japan and Korea on Jan. 25.
The ASEAN Tourism Conference, which is a regular component of the ATF, will be addressed by Garuda Indonesia President Abdulgani, as the keynote speaker on the subject of “Building Confidence of the Airline Business in the Asia Pacific Region Post WTC Tragedy”.
Panelists include Johannes Widodo of the National University of Singapore, Silvia Challita of American Express Indonesia, Endra Datta of Bali Camps and Prof. Neil Leiper of the School of Tourism and Hospitality Management, Southern Cross University, Australia.
The commercial component of the ATF, the Travel Exchange or Travex is scheduled for Jan. 26 to 28. Registered are 315 companies from the ASEAN countries as Sellers and 346 Buyers from 46 countries and over 100 media from 30 countries and Indonesia.
The venue for the Travex will be the newly completed Yogyakarta Exhibition and Convention Center in Janti, which is to be developed into a center for trade and investment by the Yogyakarta government.
Yogyakarta, which has the status of a special territory or province, is known as the center of Javanese culture. It is within easy reach of two of Indonesia’s World Heritage Sites, the 8th Century Borobudur and the Prambanan temple complex.
Delegates to the ATF will have the opportunity to see first hand royal Javanese traditions, the rich traditional arts and crafts of the people and ancient monuments in Yogyakarta.
The ATF, is jointly sponsored by the Yogyakarta Regional Government, the provincial governments of South Sulawesi and Central Java, Garuda Indonesia, Singapore Airlines, Cathay Pacific, KLM Royal Dutch Airlines, Gulf Air and the Casa Grande group of hotels in Yogyakarta.
