Jakarta (ANTARA News) - Culture and Tourism Minister Jero Wacik received a visit of his Malaysian counterpart Dato` Sri Azalina Dato` Othman to discuss the opportunity in enhancing cooperation on tourism here Thursday.
“The visit is a continuation of the last meeting in December 2008 in Hanoi,” he said. (more…)
JAKARTA, Jan. 29 (Xinhua) — Indonesia and Malaysia agreed to cooperate in tourism industry to lessen the deepening impact of the global economic downturn on the sector, ministers of the countries said here Thursday.
    The global financial crisis is predicted to slump tourist spending and flatten the number of foreign visitors to Indonesia this year, the country’s Tourism Minister Jero Wacik has said. (more…)
JAKARTA, Jan. 28 (Xinhua) — Indonesia, the world’s largest palm oil producer, is to hold international palm oil conference here on May 27 to 29, the committee of the conference said on Wednesday.
    Over 1,000 producers, the government officials in charge on palmoil industry and others stakeholders from several countries will share their experiences, opinions and ideas in dealing with the productivity and market shares of the commodity, said a member of the committee Witjaksana Darmosarkoro. (more…)
T he government is calling for a new slogan to replace “Celebrating 100 Years of National Awakening†for its Visit Indonesia 2009 tourism campaign. Every time I invite my Australian, British, Dutch and American friends to visit us in Indonesia, the reply from three continents is almost the same and very politely Javanese: “Not just yet.†The more straightforward friends will reply, “Not after the Bali bombings.†And when I explain that I live one and a half hours by plane from Bali — which is now back to its pre-Bali bombing peacefulness — I don’t hear from them again. (more…)
January 26, 2009–The dark disk of the moon creeps across the setting sun during the first solar eclipse of 2009, as seen on Monday from Manila Bay in the Philippines.
People viewing from the southern Indian Ocean were among the few to see the full annular eclipse, so called because at its peak the eclipse is surrounded by an annulus, or ring, of fiery light. (more…)
Beijing (ANTARA News) - President of Mongolia Nambaryn Enkhbayar will make an official visit to Indonesia from February 8 to 11, 2009, to meet President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono and other high ranking officials.
“The President of Mongolia is expected to visit Indonesia and the program has been prepared, including a meeting with President Yudhoyono and Vice President M Jusuf Kalla, as well as with other state officials,” Indonesian Ambassador to China and concurrently to Mongolia Sudrajat said here on Monday. (more…)
Despite the economic slowdown in many parts of the world, tourism to Indonesia was very good in 2008, according to recent announcements. Indonesia’s Tourism and Culture Minister Jero Wacik said that there were increases in both foreign tourists and foreign exchange revenue for 2008. (more…)
Lilian Budianto , THE JAKARTA POST , JAKARTA
Foreign Minister Hassan Wirajuda and his South Korean counterpart Yu Myung-hwan agreed to implement the 2006 strategic partnership soon amid the global crisis.
After a two-hour meeting with the South Korean guest on Wednesday, Hassan told reporters that the strategic partnership, signed in December 2006, would provide greater opportunities for cooperation in sectors of energy and forestry, which had become Indonesia’s mainstays. (more…)
Claudia Sardi , THE JAKARTA POST , DENPASAR
A plan to expand Bali’s only international airport to a capacity of 16 million flyers per year by 2011 is essential according to tourism officials, but environmentalists say it could destroy what remains of the island’s mangrove forests.
The expansion project, which will begin in the next few months, hinges on the development of an 80,000 square-meter plot of mainly mangrove forest near Ngurah Rai International Airport. (more…)
Bali Governor I Made Mangku Pastika announced Sunday his administration would establish a special team to review investor plans to transform one of the island’s lakes into a mass tourism venue.
The plan has drawn strong criticism from local environmental activists, who say the project would further degrade the integrity of the surrounding area, estimated to be one of the island’s few remaining water absorption areas. “A team will be assigned to review the plan. We, of course, will not issue any recommendation without first reviewing and deliberating on it thoroughly,” Pastika said during an inspection trip to Karangasem on Sunday. (more…)