Sunday, 4 October 2009

Dear students,

Please generate discussion on the following topic:

What innovative ideas do you have about how Jakarta could be improved as a tourist destination. Please don't just state the obvious - try to come up with something new.

The deadline for comments on this post is Friday October 9th 2009.

Happy blogging!

27 comments:

  1. Jakarta as a tourist destination, hmm tough... This is idea I'm about to put on the table is not exactly related to tourism in Jakarta but I just thought of it and I just want to share it. I realized that there are an abundant availability of International school in Jakarta, JIS, BIS, the German School, French School, AIS and many more. However; what is lacking is the availability of International Universities. Binus International is obviously one, but it's not entirely International just because the classes are thought in English. Over 80% of the student population are basically Indonesians so there is nothing International about it. JIS for example is a melting pot of cultures and broad diversities in the origins of the student populations. I bet if a truly International University opens up in Jakarta, foreigners who may want to continue their higher education in Jakarta may have that option. Ahh, so much more I want to say about this but its off topic...
    An innovative idea to improve Jakarta's available tourist destinations...gee, I really don't know. Um, lets see, Oh I know...Improve the horrible traffic problems that scares everybody. I mean we all have gone through it and the traffic in Jakarta is an absolute nightmare. I bet if the government can selflessly invest in new and better road construction ideas or better and more comfortable transportation alternatives, tourist may be more willing to visit Jakarta and it's sights and destinations. The Busway, or the Trans Jakarta was a pretty good improvement but still, it's packed and you can hardly ever find seats. It's not comfortable at all and it's a complete turn off for higher class society. In Singapore, you would see rich and successful Business Men riding the MRT or the bus often because its very convenient and doesn't cause to much of a hectic. So I vote for improving the on-going traffic congestion and I believe that by doing so, tourism in Jakarta may improve .

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  2. In my point of view, there are two main reasons why people visit Jakarta. The first reason is shopping, why not? In fact, Jakarta has many shopping malls from east to west, north to south. From my experience I haven't seen mall as big as mall in Jakarta. Mall Pondok Indah, for instance, has everything that you need from your daily supply to luxurious items. However, "we" don't know how to promote this. Indonesian government should put more budget in promoting these malls, maybe we can put advertisements in Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand, or maybe Australia especially on their airports. I personally don't want people think that Jakarta only has farm! It did once, my friend in Canada asked me what Jakarta looks like and he thought that Jakarta is all farms. I showed the pictures of malls and clubs in Jakarta and he said "wow I don't expect Jakarta is this nice and modern". From that case, I realized that Indonesian Government has "only" promoting the culture side but they forgot what century they are living in.
    The second reason why tourist visit Jakarta is culture. Indonesia is well known have many of cultures, or I would say Jakarta itself has many cultures. I'm suggesting that Indonesian government to make an event about culture such as like a parade. we make this "parade" every month or week on a fixed date. It's more like a "Batik" day on 2nd of Oct, so people in Jakarta or outside Indonesia know on that date there is a parade. Obviously, we need to promote this event or "parade" outside of Indonesia. How? Make a website or ads. for example "WWW.turisku.com" or maybe we can post this event on our Facebook, Twitter, or blog.

    I think that's all my ideas of promoting Jakarta.

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  3. You both are taking all my ideas!! mean2.. >.< =P well, i'm glad though i'm the third to post it so i get to share some ideas.. well, i totally agree with the solving of the traffic jam that Dimitri states and not to forget Kevin's idea of promoting Jakarta in foreign country. hear hear.. (Debating term) =P My idea to make Jakarta a better tourist destination would be increase in the safety. The australian embassy have created travel restriction and warning to visit Indonesia which includes Jakarta due to the bombing that happen past few years and unexpectedly it happen again. what a pity. If these bombings keep on happening it will show other countries that Indonesia or Jakarta securities check are really poor and they will think twice or even thrice to come to Jakarta as they are afraid the bombings incident will happen again which will certainly have an effect on our tourism industry. So governtments, increase the safety of our nation!!! =P

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  4. well, all of your ideas are awesome! haha..hmm, promoting Jakarta as a tourist destination isn't an easy thing to do since the government itself doesn't really care or even putting effort to improve it. anyway,these are the ideas. okay, i think Jakarta need to pay more attention towards the pollution level. this is one of the major problem that frightened the tourist and the worst thing is Jakarta is known as one of the most polluted city in the world. well,this definitely degrade jakarta's image and impression among tourists. then, invite more international bands, and rock stars to held a concert in Jakarta. believe it or not, many people from different parts of the world come to jakarta to watch those concerts only for the sake of satisfaction. this is a very effective yet profitable promotion isn't it? :) hmm,that's all from me...

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  5. Suryana...Good point!
    however,goverment needs to "increase the safety of nation" as Walandouw mentioned to get more trust from the international bands.

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  6. or, an idea would be to segregate a part in jakarta and make it completely chill like for shuure! Na i mean, make it like baby bali u heard...alcohol all over, free dress, the less the better, cheap stuff, open bars and clubs left and right....TOUCH MY BALI! uhuh....If such entity consisting of an open and organic entertainment with the affluence of humanitarian and self awareness, perhaps the idea of a perfect Utopia may screech into existence and paradise shall reign!

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  7. Hey you guys almost take all the ideas!haha. Okay lets start. Jakarta as a tourist destination, first thing come up in mind is increase the cleanliness. There are rubbish spread everywhere! This condition has reach a certain level in which Indonesian citizens already feel irritated. And if we think it through hypotethically, it is almost an absolute point that the tourists will feel the same way or even worse judgement that exceeds indonesian citizens' inconvenience. And also i'm thinking about reform our Airport. Like we did with the "Terminal 3". But Terminal 3 is operating for domestic flight only. So if it is reformed, we can attract more tourist, especially for those who's having their flight-transition stop.

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  8. there's a lot that we can change to make jakarta a great tourist destination.. such as making events in places that might interest tourist to come back, such as ancol. but of course we have to make ancol a better place too. by making it a cleaner place, replacing old and bad facilities with new and improved ones. and maybe they can invent new games in dufan that can be more exciting. other than that they can also build or extend places like waterbom and snowbay.

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  9. ummm~
    indonesia should do more advertise to promote, my ideas are
    put all what indonesia has to visit into brochure and put it in every airport in each city in indonesia. So, that brochure can be a tourist destination guide line. so tourist can see another interesting place in indonesia, so they will choose which next destination should visit~

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  10. How Jakarta can improve as a tourist destination?hmmm,personally, I think that the first thing that has to be change is the ruling system. I don't think Jakarta works well in having a president as their leader because what you see today is the actual result. I think if Indonesia was invaded by the Britsih long time ago, the country's management would work well and today's environment would have been alot more attractive with less pollution. Old public transportations should also be eliminated because from the physical itselves already show us or even tourists how insecure they are. Not only the insecurities, but they also create pollution to the country. Public transportations should be improved because when people travel, they often travel to places where they do not know anyone or do not have any relatives. They expect the country to provide them the transportations like other tousist countries. Terrorist should be avoided in Jakarta because this is one of the main factors that prevent tourist from visiting Jakarta. An exmaple of this would be my close friend. Her mother will never let her to pay a visit to Jakarta because of all the insecurities and terrorist she saw in the news. No matter how I try to persuade her mom, the bad image of Jakarta will never leave her mind. Historical places in Jakarta should also be maintain because tourists love to see historical architectures as one of their purposes in travelling. The number of private cars should also be reduce because it creates traffic everywhere. That's all I can think of about improving Jakarta as a tourist country. ohh, and since Indonesia is rich in almost all of the natural resources, I strongly believe that Jakarta could be a very successful tourist country only if it was ruled managed and ruled well.

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  11. Sir, this is STELLA's work. There was some error in entering the blog, so here it is:

    I think Jakarta, up to now, is not an attractive destination for tourists and travelers alike, as it has no natural beauty that Bali possessed abundantly, there are only skyscrapers in Sudirman and other SCBDs, but other than that the city has nothing that can entice them. So, in order to make Jakarta a much more interesting option, there has to be a significant improvement to reduce traffic, a simple way to start is by banning angkot and kopaja from stopping recklessly. An improved traffic condition followed by a luxurious, adrenaline-pumping outbound complex complete with bungee jumping and gantole to name a few, will make our beloved city a more appealing place for tourists

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  12. I think Jakarta, up to now, is not an attractive destination for tourists and travelers alike, as it has no natural beauty that Bali possessed abundantly, there are only skyscrapers in Sudirman and other SCBDs, but other than that the city has nothing that can entice them. So, in order to make Jakarta a much more interesting option, there has to be a significant improvement to reduce traffic, a simple way to start is by banning angkot and kopaja from stopping recklessly. An improved traffic condition followed by a luxurious, adrenaline-pumping outbound complex complete with bungee jumping and gantole to name a few, will make our beloved city a more appealing place for tourists

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  13. "Jakarta as a tourist destination".. hmnn,, i think that this isn't an easy way to achived. As we all know that Jakarta is always being crowded not because of it's tourism activities. But, since that Jakarta is a capital city of Indonesia so for sure that it will become more crowded compare to other city in this country.
    In order to change Jakarta, from it's title as the governmet city, into such a tourism destination city, i'm preety sure that this will be very impossible. unless the government themselves realise about this and starting to promote jakarta seriously. they can first begin with setting again jakarta. maintain the cleanliness, repairing all the pipe underground, constructing the new roads, and increase the safety level. but, this isn't enough, we also need to set up some event like olympics and etc. tha unique one which can also be done are make the simulation of bombing that occur frequently in jkrta, or the cultural dance shows, or even the big sale in jakarta and convenction center.
    that was all my idea i have.. if anything is incorrect please feel free to add comments about it.. ^^

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  14. there are so many different places in indonesia, also in jakarta itself that will attract not just local people, but also people from around the world. but sadly, the indonesian government cannot promote all of this. not just in the way the government promotes jakarta, but also the government cannot take care and maintain the cleanliness of the places. most of the buildings of the museums or even the rides in the family fun park are not well maintained. either the buildings are run down or is leaking and for the theme park, most of the rides are old and looks like it needs to be repainted or maybe even renew the rides. for me, to be able to promote all these tourist attraction in jakarta, is to renew, repaint or fix the building. once it is redone, the employees of the place should maintain the cleanliness and also the preservation of the building/place. after that is taken care of, i think the best way to attract the tourist attraction, is by having brochures located not just in jakarta's airport, but also in hotels in countries nearby indonesia. also, another way to promote indonesia's tourism is by making good deals with hotels or travel agents for tour packages and other things. well..thats all for me!!toodles..have a great weekend friends and also mr. lee :)

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  15. There are many reasons why a tourism in other country want to visit Jakarta, including the historical monuments, lovely scenery and rich cultural heritage. And all of us, as Indonesian people know about that, how beautiful is our country and our culture, and i am very sure, government also know about this very well. I think, government should take a serious action about this, yet we know that J.W Marriot and Ritz Carlton tragedy was making many tourisms in other country scared to visit Jakarta. For example like Manchaster United that planned to come to Jakarta, finally they changed their minds to not come here, and I am very sure it really makes many people in our country dissapointed. Government should do a serious action to develop our country so more people in other country can see, that our Jakarta city actually is a wonderful city with beautiful, friendly people. That's all what I think about this topic :)

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  16. haha, mr lee has to read all this,...hahaha

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  17. i agree with all of them that said, the government must clean the city, etc..
    but now jakarta already too crowded, so i think, we can make nect "BALI" in "PULAU SERIBU"..
    why foreign people like to come to bali? because, the nature beauty of bali itself as an island, and it also have many attraction and entertainment that tourist can enjoy.. why jakarta is hard to be a tourist destination, because the busy and crowded place that sometimes make tourist hard to relax in the city..
    my suggestion is we must develop pulau seribu, the nature of pulau seribu can be like bali if developed, but now, in the pulau seribu there are villas only, we can developed the environment to be attractive by keeping the environment clean and developed some entertainment such as banana boat, attraction like natural ocean park, so that tourist can enjoy the environment of pulau seribu.. and because it have many small island, government can make 1 small island to be the district of tourist to shopping and but souvenirs..

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  18. Great to read your comments guys! Keep them coming!

    Dimitri, it was "Black Adder"

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  19. For the very first time we have to develop the secure because as we know in the previous time there are some terrorist who had already bombastic hotels in jakarta such as J.W Marriot then and Ritz Carlton.That was inhumanity measure!!!not only to keep the terrorist away but also we have to make sure the city is safe from the criminality.The other one way is attracting tourist with a MUSEUM in jakarta because everyone wants to know the history and the culture of the place that they visit,I meant like DE-LOUVRE museum at Paris even the people who do not like paintings but I'm sure they will like the museum!Well all I meant is we have to renovation the museum building and make sure it is clean because it will interest someone to visit!after that maybe we have to make a place or a shopping centre which located in the centre like LEGIAN street in BALI or Kurfurstendam strasse in BERLIN to sell souvenirs like the handmake BATIK,WAYANG kulit(sorry SIR!I don't know how to say it in english,the branded item and etc.that's all I know :-P hahahahahaha..sorry if some of my idea aren't related :-D

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  20. In my personnel opinion, I would strongly advise that perhaps if certain improvements were made towards all ready existing tourism sites and services in Jakarta, tourism in Jakarta overall would also improve. One suggestion I may have is to improve the language capability of all employees and staff in the hospitality and tourism service industry. For example, if the Busway conductors and staff were able to speak English, perhaps foreigners would have an easier time accessing the busway services. In fact, i read this idea from an article just the other day. And if the level of English can elevate significantly and rapidly, I have strongly believe that tourism would be better off as foreigners would have easier means of communication.

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  21. Just the topic I’ve been discussing with some people recently. Tourist attractions in Jakarta –there’s just simply not enough! I get my Chelsea mates from the UK, Singapore or Malaysia visiting once in a while and I get confused on where to take them around. They’d want sightseeing, but I couldn’t think of anything that stands out in Jakarta for sightseeing. During the day I would usually take my mates to Kota, visit the museums and Sunda kelapa, followed by a hearty meal and some drinks at the Batavia Cafe. Then to the pubs or Football match screenings at night at that’s about all. I know there are loads of other places to visit such as Taman Mini, random museums like the ones in Lubang Buaya or the National Museum but those places are just not that interesting to visit, or we just fail to make them interesting. Stating the obvious, the government needs to provide better public transports. The TransJakarta bus way was good for a starter but bus way alone can’t cater the needs of Jakarta’s thousands of commuters. We’d need more busway routes, maybe have MRT running, make Jakarta’s streets more pedestrian friendly, provide lanes for bicycles, and definitely control all those crazy herds of motorbikes roaming around the streets. Jakarta’s traffic is just plain mental and if we ever want to improve on our tourism then the traffic is an essential problem to be solved. Also on the transportation, the government should provide easier access to the airport. Damri buses are definitely not enough, there should be train route to the airport -Singapore and Malaysia have it, why can’t we? It’ll make commuting to the airport much easier.
    Television advertising is also important, I wouldn’t call that that Enjoy Jakarta ad - with that chubby American bloke in a hotel room taking out random stuff from his luggage- very much promoting. I find it really cheesy and meaningless (i.e. rubbish). They should be showing the scenes of Jakarta instead, the good parts of course like the shopping malls, the good restaurants and clubs, the museums and historical places, and maybe even include scenes from the Thousand Islands. Put more creativity into it. Other means of advertising such as brochures, free city maps, or small guide books should be made available in public spots. Provide more information centres with reliable staff to help tourists seeking information on getting around Jakarta.

    But really, sort out the traffic first please it's proper well out of order!

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  22. Jakarta is an awesomee city,it is an interesting place forsightseeing,entertainment,and recreation. If u are a shopaholic type of person,u can enjoy the shopping malls that are offered here in Jakarta. There are plenty of them. Shopping in Jakarta takes many forms from the most traditional pasar or we could say as markets to glitzy world of class malls of international designer branded shops.Jakarta also provides replicas of the original at a cheaper price. Yeahhh,so enjoy the shopping malls here people...
    However, i want to share my ideas on how to improve Jakarta as a tourist destination.In my opinion, the Government should improve on their commercial advertisements such as the culture of Indonesia to attract people out there. Many people think that Jakarta has nothing, but again they are absolutely wrong. Tourists could visit the old town of Jakarta,Jakarta Kota which still retains several old colonial buildings and museums, the wayang puppet,the Fine Art Ceramics Museum and many other places to go. What else? Oh yeahh tourists could also go to Monas to enjoy a beautiful view of the Jakarta city. Besides that,the government should concern about the cleanliness as well as the heavy traffic here, the traffic will just make people go crazy. Air pollution is also the main problem here in Jakarta.Just look at the sky at night,we can't even see stars(yeahh we could only count it with our hands) Am I right? LOL~
    If the government do these actions I believe that tourism in Jakarta will improved.
    ^^

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  23. Honestly, i Love Jakarta the way it is!
    with traffic everywhere, with all the rush,because Jakarta is "a big city".Isn't that what a big city supposed to look like?All about rush and traffic jam.
    Since Jakarta is a big city or i can say a bit modern than other city in Indonesia, we can promote the nightclubs,malls,cafes,pubs,or maybe stripclubs.Go to Museums....why not?jakarta has lots of history,but this is not " a selling point".If a tourist wants to relax,obviously Jakarta is not the right place!
    Have guys realize that "maybe" more than 40% people who live in Jakarta are not from Jakarta? And that's the reason traffic jams are everywhere in Jakarta.Now, the question is why people from other city come to Jakarta?Because Jakarta is a centralized city.Yes,Jakarta is a capital city,yet is also a business city.
    Sorry it's abit out of topic, I just want to give my point a view why traffic jams are everywhere in Jakarta, since you guys mentioned it.

    Have a great weekend guys.

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  24. Jakarta. In my personal opinion, there are three main problems that the government should solved before promoting it as a tourist destination. The very obvious one is absolutely the traffic. I've read somewhere, Jakarta is one of the top five city that have a bad traffic jam worldwide. It's an irony because it's very crucial for a tourist to have an enjoyable trip to every single interesting places in Jakarta. Secondly, we should admit the crime rate in Jakarta is the highest among the big cities in Indonesia. The government should control strictly about the urbanization and give more job opportunities for those who jobless to reduce the crime rate therefore the tourists will feel secure while they spend their holidays in Jakarta. The last and most important thing for the government to solve is the cleanliness of Jakarta. It will leave a good impression by the tourists if the government could do better in this factor and it will give them a big revenue from this tourism sector.
    Finally, I have several ways to promote Jakarta as a tourist destination. I think about the international event that annually held in Jakarta. It would be better if supported with a good advertisement to make the public awareness about the event and invite more well-known musician from all part of the world. It's not impossible to compete with the establish event like Glastonbury in UK or Woodstock in USA, well we already have Java Rockin' Land :D Next one is by on the road promotion outside Indonesia. It's usually held under the authority of Indonesia Embassy in that countries. The government of Jakarta might take this step because I've experienced be the committee of the event (I promoted Visit Indonesia 2008 at that time in Singapore) and it really attract the local to come by and plan their next holiday in Indonesia so why don't the government Jakarta make such thing like "Enjoyable Jakarta 2010" and make their on the road promotion in Europe, China or USA perhaps? Lastly a good but straight forward advertisement really bring a great impact to the industry. I've no see any advertisement that really promote Jakarta except the one that Adisty mentioned before. Yeahh it's so cheesy and meaningless without showing any interesting places in Jakarta. The government should dare to invest big amount of money to hire a production house to make a good advertisement about Jakarta as a tourist destination because if it done by such a way, I believe the percentage of tourist that visit Jakarta will increase rapidly without forgetting to solve the main three problems that I mentioned above.
    YOGI P.S.

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