Save tourism in Thousand Islands: Workshop

Indah Setiawati, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta | Tue, 01/19/2010 7:50 PM

Sepa Island (one of the Thousand Islands)

Resort operators on Thousand Islands have complained of a sharp decline in the number guests, which they say is a result of poor accessibility and marketing.

Jhonny Lapian of PT Buana Bintang Samudra, the management of Putri Island resort, told a workshop Tuesday business was lackluster following the tsunami disaster that ravaged Aceh in December 2004.

“After the tsunami, our revenue declined. Now we no longer profit from the business. The major problem is transportation,” he said.

He added the resort only provided a speedboat during weekends. Transporting guests by speedboat on weekdays, which are usually quiet, costs the company too much, he said. The boat needs at least 30 passengers to cover transport costs.

Haznil Maulana of PT Pantara Wisata Jaya, the management of Pantara Island resort, said the company now operated East Pantara Island only and ceased the operation of West Pantara Island.

“We stopped operating West Pantara Island because we cannot afford the operational costs,” he said.

Sahat sitorus, the Tourism subagency head of Thousand Islands, said there were 11 resorts operating in the archipelagic regency but six of them closed when the Asian financial crisis struck in the late 1990s..

He acknowledged that transport had hindered the development of marine tourism in the regency, consisting of resorts and residential islands.

“Tourists need convenient, fast boats. The wooden boats currently available in Muara Angke are not convenient, fast or safe,” he said.

Data from the Thousand Islands tourism subagency recorded 141,000 tourists last year, 3,316 were foreigners from Europe and Asia. The number stood at 130,000 in 2008.

With arms stretched out

The Jakarta Post  |  Sat, 01/31/2009 4:08 PM  
 

 Kindergarten and elementary students reach their hands to touch two characters of Jalan Sesama, the local version of Sesame Street TV show, during the show's launching ceremony at the National Gallery in Jakarta on Saturday. The show is produced by a non-profit educational institute Sesame Workshop in cooperation with Jakarta-based Creative Indigo Production with funding from the United States Agency for International Development. JP/P.J. LEO

Related Article:

Sesame Street's coming to town!

Museum exhibits rare West Java batik

The Jakarta Post, Jakarta | Wed, 11/12/2008 10:45 AM 

TOO SEXY FOR BATIK: Models present modern batik clothes at the opening of the West Java Batik Exhibition at the Textile Museum in Central Jakarta on Tuesday. The museum organizes the two-week exhibition to promote West Javan batik. (JP/Nani Afrida)

 

Batik took to the catwalk Tuesday in a flashy display of modern fashion during the opening of the West Java Batik Exhibition at the Textile Museum in Central Jakarta. 

"I thought batik only came from Central Java. I never heard of West Java batik before," said a visitor to the exhibition, which is being held until Nov. 23. 

West Java Batik, based on a tradition dating back to 1430, is not as well known as batik from Solo, Yogyakarta and Pekalongan. 

"Only a few people know that West Java has its own traditional batik, which comprises the history and philosophy of the region in its beautiful motifs," said Dyah Damayanti, the head of the museum. 

The exhibition, titled "West Java Tradition", displays about 100 various kinds of batik from several areas in West Java, such as Tasikmalaya, Ciamis, Garut, Cirebon, Bandung and Indramayu. 

"In some West Java areas, batik is already extinct, like batik Ciamis," Dyah said. 

West Java Batik features motifs derived from the Sunda culture, which was influenced by both Hindu and Islam as well as cultures from China, India and the Netherlands. 

Among the most recognizable of the West Java batik motifs are buketan galang gasi, parang kembang, lunglungan, urang ayu and mega mendung. 

West Java batik is different from Central Java batik because of its use of vibrant colors like green, red, orange and blue. 

Antique batik fabrics are on display at the exhibition, including a rare 300-year-old banner from Cirebon that features Arabic calligraphy. 

"We hope that this event will inform visitors that Indonesia has many places with a unique batik style," Dyah said. 

The fashion show featured the designs of several prominent batik designers and producers in Indonesia, such as Danar Hadi, Komar, Tiga Putri and Warna Alam Roso. 

The exhibition is the result of a scenography workshop held in cooperation with the Dutch government. (naf) 

Textile Museum
Jl. KS Tubun No. 4
Tanah Abang, Central Jakarta

Opening hours:

Tuesday - Thursday, Saturday - Sunday : 9:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m.

Friday :  9:00 a.m. to 12:30 p.m.

Monday and public holidays: closed

Festival celebrates Chinese culture

The Jakarta Post, Fri, 11/07/2008 10:54 AM  

DEPOK: A three-day festival to celebrate Chinese culture kicked off Thursday at the University of Indonesia campus in Depok. 

A Chinese traditional dance, the dragon dance, marked the opening of the 2008 Sinology Festival (Sinofest), organized by the School of Cultural Science' Chinese and Japanese study program. 

The theme for the annual festival this year is "The Journey Continues". It symbolizes the continuous journey of the students to promote Chinese culture. 

The first event took place in 2001, when it was called the Chinatown Festival. 

On the first day of the festival, visitors enjoyed a public Chinese calligraphy workshop, a wushu (Chinese martial arts dance) exhibition, a Chinese language seminar, a film discussion, and another workshop on zhongguo jie, the art of Chinese knots. 

The festival will hold a variety of events Friday such as a potehi (traditional Chinese puppet) presentation, a Chinese poetry reading, an opera and a Chinese lantern painting workshop. 

The final day of the festival will take place at Bank Mandiri Museum in Kota, West Jakarta. It will feature a seminar on the environment and a music concert. 

The 2008 Sinofest committee head, Siti Atikah Immadudin, said the goal of the annual festival was to show the general public how rich and diverse Chinese culture is.

Exhibition to display woven fabrics with traditional flair

The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

A five-day traditional weaving exhibition is set to be opened Wednesday to present some 200 weavers from 12 major producing provinces, the country's industrial ministry said Monday.

The exhibition will be held at Jakarta's convention center and will display woven products from small and medium enterprises, including hand weaved innovations from 12 domestic fashion designers, the organizers said.

"The designers have also trained traditional weavers, so the products will be rich in designs and colors and will be more fashionable and comfortable to wear," said Yusran Munaf, director for small- and medium-scale clothing industry at the ministry.

Yusran said the weavers had undertaken a four-month training workshop organized by the Indonesian Fashion Designers Association (APPMI).

The designers include Ghea S. Panggabean, Thomas Sigar, Oscar Lawalata, Merdy Sihombing, Tuti Cholid, Stephanus Hamy and Taruna Kusmayadi.

Yusran said although the products were designed more creatively, they still applied traditional patterns from provinces including Bali, Nanggroe Aceh Darussalam, as well as North and South Sumatra.

The products to be displayed would include traditional clothing, household appliances, accessories, sofas and decorations for homes and offices.

Yusran said the exhibition was aimed at promoting woven fabrics as part of the country's cultural heritage to both domestic and international markets.

Last year's exhibition booked about Rp 1.76 billion (around US$190,000) in revenue, or around Rp 352 million per day.

"This year, we expect the exhibition can book a 20 to 25 percent increase in revenue," Yusran said.

There are about 170,000 weaving business units with 300,000 weavers in 19 provinces.

Yusran said to help develop their businesses, the ministry would gradually try to introduce machinery weaving equipment so they could increase the volume of their products with various patterns.(ndr)

Number of foreign tourist arrivals in 2009 projected at 10 million

Jakarta (ANTARA News) - The Culture and Tourism Ministry has projected the number of foreign tourists visiting the country in 2009 at 10 million, a ministry spokesman said here Monday.

"The country will earn US$10 billion in foreign exchange in 2009 with the arrival of 10 million foreign tourists. This tourism growth will create job opportunities for 12.5 million people," Culture and Tourism Minister Jero Wacik said in a statement read by his ministry`s marketing director general, Thamrin B Bachri, at a tourism workshop.

The ministry was also expecting the number of domestic tourists to grow by 1.4 percent annually so that in 2009 their number would reach 218.8 million who would spend some Rp105.9 trillion.

Minister Wacik also foresaw constant development in tourism destinations, marine tourism, cultural tourism and related services in the country.

The ministry would thus step up its efforts to market and develop tourism destinations until 2009 through its Bali Recovery Program, Yogya Recovery Program, Online Marketing and Marketing Representatives.

Meanwhile, in order to help make a planned Visit Indonesia Year (VIY) 2008 program a success, the ministry would promote Indonesian tourism in China, India and the Middle East; step up cooperation with Singapore, Malaysia and Thailand; implement visa integration and increase flight frequencies.

The ministry would also open regional tourism representative offices in Singapore, Frankfurt, China, UAE, Japan, South Korea, India and Australia as well as launch golf, spa, diving, caving and wedding and ecotourism programs.

Bogor Botanical Garden Center to hold int'l workshop

JAKARTA (Antara): The Bogor Botanical Garden Plant Conservation Center will hold a workshop which will carry a theme on the Implementation of Global Strategy for Plant Conservation (GSPC)'s Target VIII, a report has said.

The workshop which would be held jointly by the center and the Botanic Garden Conservation International (BGCI) would take place on May 21-24 in Bogor, some 60 km south of here, the National Institute of Sciences (LIPI) said in the report made available on Sunday.

The workshop, it said, would focus on development and management of botanical gardens in Indonesia.

Horticultural scientist Doctor Reni Lestari who was concurrently workshop coordinator said botanical garden development program in Indonesia undoubtedly endorse GSPC's target VIII.

Sixty percent of endangered plants in Indonesia was collected by the botanical gardens through ex-situ programs, and ten percent from restoration program.

GSPC was established in 2002 by the Conference of Parties (COP) which set a target of reaching 16 goals by 2010.