UNWTO Reports Jakarta Recovering Quickly from Blasts

Jakarta, Indonesia | August 09, 2009 by D-8 Secretariat

Despite the temporary setbacks, Indonesia, as a top tourist destination will continue its charm of cultural and natural diversity

The U.N. World Tourism Organization (UNWTO) reported that while the bomb attacks that took place on July 17, 2009 have shocked Jakarta and the entire country, the city is recovering quickly. Based on a UNWTO mission carried out by Xu Jing, regional representative for Asia and the Pacific, on July 21-22, the UNWTO said the specific areas where Hotel JW Marriot and Hotel Ritz Carlton are located, life has been restored to its normality. “Jakarta did stop for a moment on Friday, but not for long. We are not going to allow terrorists to dictate and allow them to make Jakarta their hostage,” said Fauzi Bowo, governor of DKI Jakarta.

The latest data, obtained from Indonesia’s Ministry of Culture and Tourism and confirmed by the Indonesia Hotel and Restaurant Association, reveal that there has been no obvious tourist exodus from Jakarta nor from Bali as a result of the bomb blast. The Government of Indonesia, right after the incident, took a number of immediate actions in order to minimize the negative impacts of the attacks. A Crisis Centre was immediately established in the Ministry of Culture and Tourism to provide the tourism industry as well as the individual visitors with the comprehensive information and the latest updates of the situation. Jero Wacik, Minister of Culture and Tourism, personally switched on the Ministry’s Emergency Response System and the Standard Operations Procedures (SOP), following the UNWTO’s guidelines for crisis in the tourism sector.

“There is no room for terrorism to kill tourism. There is no room for terrorists to use tourism to kill innocent visitors,” said Dr. Taleb Rifai, Secretary-General of UNWTO. Despite the temporary setbacks, Indonesia, as a top tourist destination will continue its charm of cultural and natural diversity. In fact, Indonesia performed exceptionally well last year, achieving a 16.8 percent increase of international tourist arrivals. From January to May 2009, tourist arrivals to Bali, Indonesia’s prime destination, were up by as high as 9.35 percent when most destinations in the region were adversely affected by the financial and economic downturn.

Jakarta recovers quickly after the incident

At the press conference held on July 22 in Jakarta, Xu Jing, who was also taken to the site for inspection, congratulated Indonesia and the tourism industry of the country for their professional approach and efficient capacity in handling the crisis. He said that as long as the industry rallies together to overcome the setbacks, the country will continue to build an even stronger tourism sector in the nearest future.

Asia’s most wanted said killed in Indonesia

Meanwhile, Noordin M. Top, the suspected mastermind of series of bombings in Indonesia was shot dead by police yesterday.

Top, the terrorist who police say is the chief suspect in last month’s suicide bomb attacks on luxury hotels in Jakarta and other deadly attacks, is one of Asia’s most wanted men.

Indonesian police sources said on Saturday they believed the former accountant and maths teacher had been killed during raids in Central Java and were trying to identify his body.

Malaysian-born Noordin was once a key figure in Jemaah Islamiah, a militant group that aimed to create a caliphate across Southeast Asia, but analysts say he created his own more violent splinter group in 2003.

He is suspected of planning the bomb attacks on the JW Marriott in Jakarta in 2003, on the Australian Embassy in Jakarta in 2004 and in Bali in 2005 — attacks designed to scare off foreign tourists and businesses.

The reported deaths of Noordin Mohammad Top, suspected of masterminding a series of bombings in Indonesia, and two of his associates may reduce risk of future attacks in the Southeast Asian nation, analysts said.

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