Is Indonesia Serious About Cruise Tourism?
Recent Events Prove that Without the Appointment of a Cruise Ombudsman Indonesian Cruising and Yacht Tourism Will Never Set Sail.
While a lack of cooperation and a shared vision among the various
branches of the Indonesian bureaucracy is hardly news in these parts,
the seizure or threatened seizure of foreign sailing yachts during
recent visits to Kupang and Bali serves to call into question the
Indonesian government's fundamental seriousness of intent in their
current drives to encourage yacht and cruise tourism.
The Chairman of Indonesian Seafaring Foundation (Yayasan Cinta Bahari
Indonesia -YCBI), Richard T. Lesmana, recently accused the government of
sabotaging the 2008 "Sail Indonesia" event that invited foreign yachts
to join an armada sailing through Eastern Indonesia.
Sail Indonesia is an annual yachting event that most recently saw 150
yachts from 15 countries set sail from Darwin, Australia to Batam, an
Indonesian island near Singapore.
During the fleet's sail through Indonesian waters, they reportedly
encountered several instances in which Indonesian customs officials
boarded their vessels and threatened to seize the foreign yachts for
failure to post sizeable bonds and financial guarantees. A 2004
regulation demands that foreign visitors must post bonds equal to 5% of
the entry fee and 47.5% of the "carried assets" (10% in tax, 30% luxury
tax and 7.5% value-added tax) as a guarantee that the expensive yachts
will be re-exported at the end of their voyage.
Singular in its severity among competing cruise destinations, the
Indonesian custom's bonds could potentially require visiting yachtsmen
to theoretically lay out cash bonds ranging from tens of thousands to
millions of dollars before being allowed to "visit" the Indonesian
archipelago.
In a drive to promote sea tourism representatives of the Indonesian
Department of Culture and Tourism have invested heavily in promoting
internationally the lucrative yachts and cruise ship sectors, while
large sums are being spent on new cruise infrastructure facilities in
Bali and elsewhere. These steps to encourage cruising are in stark
contrast to the recent moves by the Custom's Department to impose bonds
and guarantees that make Indonesia one of the world's least attractive
cruise destinations.
The efficacy of the new taxation rules in devastating cruise tourism is
hard to deny and can be gauged by the fact that of the 121 participating
yachts "welcomed" by customs at the West Timor port of Kupang,
apparently only 22 decided to continue their Indonesian journey to the
subsequent North Bali port-of-call.
According to Raymond, "aside from other factors including weather,
geography, lack of human resources and assistance in marine navigation
systems, the biggest problem was the unclear duty regulation." Adding,
"in effect, if the race involves 100 yachts with a total asset value of
Rp 500 billion (US$54.3 million), the committee will have to provide a
collateral of Rp 270 billion. How are we supposed to have that kind of
cash?"
Bigger Problems Ahead?
The lack of any kind of coordinated approach to sea-tourism between
Indonesia's tourism, customs, immigration, finance and defense agencies
destines the cruise sector to remain permanently stunted, despite a fast
developing cruise sector in Australia to the South and Singapore to the
North.
In the wake of recent problems encountered by visiting yachtsmen, major
cruise ship operators who have included Bali and other Indonesian ports
on their cruise itineraries must be more than a little nervous that
their ships will be visited during a coming Indonesian cruise by a
uniformed custom's officials demanding a multi-million dollar guarantee
be paid before their cruise can continue.
The Solution?
Repeating a call made repeatedly by balidiscovery.com in the past,
Indonesia desperately needs a powerful cruise ombudsman able to
effectively communicate on a senior level across a large number of
government departments and, when need be, directly with the President to
make sure that the Country honors its proffered invitation to yachtsmen
and cruise operators to "visit Indonesia."
In a country where the jealous protection of power and privilege too
often take sad precedence over cooperation for the common good, nothing
less will do.
Source : http://www.balidiscovery.com/messages/message.asp?Id=4756
