Tourism rules to be relaxed

INDONESIAN tourism officials in Hong Kong are planning to further relax travel formalities to attract more Chinese visitors.

Certificate of Identity (CI) holders in Hong Kong are now allowed to visit Indonesia only as members of usually inflexible tour groups. Their visas are processed through travel agents in the territory. Groups must have at least five travellers.

Rahaju Daryatno, consul for tourism at the Indonesian Consulate, said the current group tour requirements tended to discourage people who wished to travel on their own schedule, at their own pace, to experience the sights, traditions and culture of Indonesia.

''We have asked our government to reduce the minimum number of people in a group to three,'' Ms Rahaju said.

''This way, we can encourage families to go to Indonesia on their own'', rather than join tour groups.

Last year, more than 6,200 CI holders visited Indonesia, 2,877 more than in 1992.

An increase in the number of visitors from Taiwan and China prompted the government to announce moves to offer tourism-related literature in Mandarin. This has been available at the Indonesia Tourist Promotion Office in Taipei.

In Hong Kong, brochures in Mandarin have been available for six months.

Ms Rahaju said the tourism authorities were now trying to ensure that brochures in Mandarin were available in cities throughout the world where there were Indonesian tourism offices.

Recently, the government said it would allow Taiwanese and Chinese tourists to land at airports in Surabaya and Medan, as well as the main port of entry, Sukarno-Hatta International Airport in Jakarta. Surabaya and Medan are among Indonesia's 10 largest cities.

Last month, Tourism, Post and Telecommunications Minister Joop Ave visited China to sign a memorandum of understanding on bilateral tourism and co-operation.

In Hong Kong, not all CI holders face travel limitations: business travellers are not as weighed down by immigration restrictions.

''CI holders going to Indonesia on business can travel alone. There are no special requirements for them,'' Ms Rahaju said.

Visa fees vary according to immigration documents held by Chinese.

For a CI holder, the business visa costs HK$67. Permission is granted to enter the country for four weeks, and usually not more than five weeks.

Other business travellers pay only HK$44 for the visa, and are allowed entry for the same period.

CI holders who need tourist visas must pay HK$47 - non-CI holders pay HK$24.

Last year, more than 69,000 travellers from Hong Kong went to Indonesia. By contrast, about 175,000 Indonesians came to the territory.

Ms Rahaju said she hoped the trend would be reversed.

Figures from the Hong Kong Tourist Association show that, in the first five months of this year, 32,495 Hong Kong residents left to visit Indonesia. In May, slightly more than 4,300 travelled to the country, not a substantial number compared with those leaving for destinations in the Asia-Pacific.

In Indonesia, there are more than 560 star-rated hotels, providing about 50,500 rooms. Most hotels are concentrated in popular tourist centres.

Other smaller hotels and lodgings known as losmen or penginapan are spread out in the less concentrated tourist areas. These lodgings provide an additional 90,000 rooms for travellers.

Between January and May, Indonesia attracted 1.2 million tourists, 21.5 per cent more than the same period last year.

Earnings in the first five months reached US$1.47 billion.

Last year's foreign exchange earnings from tourists were US$3.6 billion from 3.4 million visitors.

As tourist numbers increase, Indonesia is planning to spend US$1.46 billion on building or expanding airports. A new airport will be built near Medan and several other facilities are to be expanded. Foreign participation is expected in some of these projects.

The government is also encouraging foreign investments in all forms of tourism facilities.