Indonesia's Tourism Industry Prepared to Face AEC 2015

Denpasar (Antara Bali) - Indonesia's tourism industry has made the necessary efforts and preparations for facing the ASEAN Economic Community (AEC) in 2015 in order to successfully compete with other Southeast Asian countries.

"The process of obtaining competence certification for tourism workers has been rolled out, but there are a lot of constraints such as the employee not being able to fund the competency test," Chief Master Program Study of Tourism Udayana University, Professor I Nyoman Darma Putra, M. Litt, stated here on Wednesday.

He noted that the tourism workers in Indonesia did not find the competency test useful as it did not help to improve their income.

Meanwhile, the companies that employed them did not finance the certification process.

"The certification will not necessarily be a consideration in the salary component. The various issues can create barriers for the tourism industry to face the AEC," he pointed out.

Darma remarked that the Udayana University will host a workshop on "Indonesian Tourism Readiness Facing the ASEAN Economic Community (AEC) in 2015" at its campus on August 15, 2014.

The workshop featuring five speakers is expected to formulate ideas that can be used as the basis for the government in formulating its policy and strategic steps to face the AEC.

The workshop will be accompanied by focus group discussions with sources from various parties such as the government, organizations, tourism entrepreneurs, and academics.

"The workshop is especially expected to identify the constraints faced by the Indonesian tourism industry," he emphasized. (WDY)