Preparing “Visit Indonesia Year”

The government`s culture and tourism department is currently making preparations for the launching of a “Visit Indonesia Year” in the middle of 2007. “A `Visit Indonesia Year` (VIY) is now in the final phase of preparation. We will launch it in July or August,” Culture and Tourism Minister Jero Wacik said.

Speaking after witnessing the signing of a cooperation agreement between the department and PT Garuda Indonesia, the minister said the preparations included the production of brochures, composition and arrangement of programs of events.

Meanwhile, Thamrin B Bachri, the culture and tourism department`s director general of marketing, said VIY 2008 would be declared as soon as its logo was completed.

“So what we are waiting for now is the completion of the logo. As soon as the logo and a guide on its use are finished, we will conduct a soft launching.” he said.

He said the most crucial thing in organizing the VIY was coordination between the department in Jakarta and the tourism offices in all of the country`s regions on the time and venues of as many as 100 top touristic events during the year.

“The events must be prepared and executed with high accuracy,” he said, adding that the 100 planned events were expected to induce foreign tourists to come to Indonesia.

The department would also publish a booklet listing all the 100 events to be organized in many parts of the country, Thamrin said.

Minister Wacik said his ministry had proposed a budget of Rp153 billion for tourism develoment in 2007. Some 80 percent of the amount was to cover the cost of promoting Indonesia`s tourist destinations through advertisements in international televisions abroad according to the article in the Antara News.