127 foreign buyers to attend tourism expo in Lombok

Panca Nugraha, The Jakarta Post, West Lombok | Sat, 10/17/2009 1:11 pm

At least 127 overseas buyers are expected to attend the 2009 Tourism Indonesia Mart and Expo (TIME) in Senggigi, West Lombok, West Nusa Tenggara, from Oct. 16 to 19.

The buyers will come from 25 countries, including Australia, Brazil and the United States, as well as from Europe and Asia.

The 15th annual TIME trade fair will feature 119 sellers from 97 tour companies in 16 provinces from across the country offering their tour products, such as from Jakarta, Bali, Central Java and East Kalimantan.

The event, organized by the Indonesian Tourism Promotion Board (BPPI) and involving all elements of the tourism sector in Indonesia, is being held for the first time in Lombok.

This year's TIME organizing committee head, Meyty Robot, said Thursday the international tourism exposition would concurrently promote Lombok's tourism potential.

"People all around the world know about Bali and Lombok, but Lombok is not yet a major tourist destination," Meyty said at a press conference in Senggigi.

"Through TIME, we wish to also promote tourism in Lombok so buyers can see for themselves the potential in Lombok."

TIME is a venue for tour operators and supporting industries in Indonesia to promote various domestic tourism products and services to tour operators from across the globe.

This year's event will not be held in a convention hall, but rather in a 10-by-200-meter tent set up on Senggigi Beach, right in front of the Santosa Senggigi Hotel and Resort.

West Nusa Tenggara Deputy Governor H.M. Badrul Munir said he expected the event to be able to make a real contribution to the development of tourism in the province.

"Based on calculations, we could spend more than Rp 65 billion *US$6.5 million* promoting our in 25 countries, which is a huge amount, but with TIME, the provincial administration only has to pay Rp 5 billion to organize the event," he said.

Badrul added tourism was the province's second-biggest earner after agriculture. The sector is expected to contribute more to the local economy, particularly after the Lombok International Airport begins operating in 2010.

Badrul said TIME would also help the province reach its target of bringing in 1 million visitors annually under the Visit Lombok Sumbawa 2012 program, up from the current 600,000 tourist arrivals a year.

The number of participants at the 15th TIME in Lombok is an increase from that at the previous TIME, in Makassar, South Sulawesi, which was attended by 104 participants from 21 countries and resulted in total estimated transactions of $15.2 million.