There was this tiny news item in Kompas. The North Sumatra Central Bureau of Statistics noticed a declining number of Dutch tourists in the region. Once upon a time the Dutch continent among tourists was the largest, now it has dwindled to a mere 4%. Other Europeans also seem to skip Medan and the rest of the province on their intercontinental journeys. The Bureau obviously thinks it is a worrying development.
Surprise, surprise, the people of Medan and surroundings are not happy they ultimately got rid of the Belandas. They even regret our absence ((+_+)). Well, primarily the missing Belanda wallets , I guess 
.
Suharno, head of BPS, wonders what may have caused the change. His answer is that the economic crisis in Europe might be blamed. Which I think is a mistake. The Dutch did spend over € 12 billion on holidays abroad last year. Which is slightly up compared to 2010. And in fact the Dutchmen had over 18 million breaks and holidays in 2011. Also more than it was in 2010. So, no, the impact of the financial- and debt-crises is still laying in wait – it doesn’t explain why my compatriots and fellow Europeans stayed away in 2011.
Henry Hutabarat, a tourism observer, points to a more likely cause in my opinion. Perhaps the facilities in the tourist-industry in the province are no longer up to the state of art. On average the Dutch who used to choose North Sumatra as their destination are beyond being middle aged now. These seniors may want (and sometimes really need) more comfort and a better infrastructure than Brastagi or Samosir can offer presently. Better facilities and more promotional activity might do the job, Henry thinks. As a matter of fact such promotion is practically non-existent.
I might add two more hypotheses.
The Dutchmen whose interest in North Sumatra could be taken for granted, the ones with direct or indirect roots in Sumatra, will soon be extinct. Less visitors from North-West Europe is a demographically inevitable fate. And if third or fourth generation descendants of the ex-colonialists do still occasionally decide to visit Indonesia, Java and Bali are the obvious destinations lately. So to be in the picture at all, catchy promotion is necessary to influence decision-making on holiday destinations. It is wrong to assume everybody in the Lowlands knows about the irresistible beauty and wonders of the province and it’s tourist highlights anyhow.
Secondly perhaps to many Dutchmen North Sumatra is guilty by association. Most people have only scanty factual knowledge. So it’s no real wonder North Sumatra’s image in the eye of the average secular European has been tarnished by frequent news about rigid interpretations of Islam and experiments in Shariah. Bukit Lawang or the Palace of Maimum are, in a perspective from 12000 kilometres away, not far from where boys and girls involved in pre-marital sex, are being publicly caned. Aceh’s peculiarities may make people shun Sumatra. Bali and Thailand, Vietnam, Laos or Cambodia are beautiful as well – and strong competitors.
Yet I would like to console the North Sumatra Central Bureau of Statistics. I don’t think it really matters whether or not an extra few hundreds or thousands of Dutchmen will spend their holidays in the province. Economically their contribution was, is and can be only peanuts – “Klein Bier” in Dutch.
My advice: don’t mind the Dutch – nor Frenchmen and Germans for that matter- but target the hundreds of thousands of potential visitors from fellow South-East Asian countries.
Right. A lot of the tourism sector here is driven by a sense of entitlement (as if they deserve tourists), and a do-nothing-and-they-will-come blase attitude.
On a personal note, I’ve always thought the “real Indonesia” lies east of Bali.
Target fellow SEAsians? I spent a year in Singapore, surrounded by a plethora of SEAsians and Asians of other flavours and colors. I’d say that the typical attitudes towards and about Indonesia ranged from “Isn’t it a dangerous and conservative place full of Muslim radicals where you are likely to be killed or kidnapped?” to, “Bali is great, but it’s not in Indonesia, right?”, to “I’ve been to Batam and that’s as much as I care to know about Indonesia”, to “I have not a clue as to what Indonesia is all about”. The point is that Indonesia is not a country that only reluctantly explains and presents itself to the world. (Contrast that with the however corny and trite, but effective “Malaysia, Truly Asia” campaign. Unlike Indonesia, Malaysia has developed a narrative of itself for foreign consumption. What’s Indonesia’s narrative?) And that makes for poor prospects for attracting Asian outsiders.
That should read, “…Indonesia is a country that only…”
@ Mauricio: Some striking points in your comments!
You’re right, a catchy narrative is clearly missing till now. Or I didn’t notice it. The “Visit Indonesia” campaign has not been remarkably successful over the years; the number of visitors from abroad seems to got stuck forever hovering around 6,5 – 7 million a year.
It’s kind of upsetting that even inhabitants in neighbouring countries seem to suffer from major negative perceptions, stereotypes, prejudice and ignorance about RI. So, it’s not just a Western prerogative
. There is a lot of PR work at hands for government, diplomats and Indonesian tourist-industry obviously.
As about “real”Indonesia I can’t speak from own experience.Lombok was as far East as we came. I fully agree though that we’ve got still a world is to discover yet -from Sumba to Papua ( by the way: this lady is blogging about her year of travelling over there: http://portraitindonesia.com/).
It is one of the areas which has been on my “to do” list ever since we returned after out first visit to the archipelago. Taking the average human life expectancy into account I have to hurry now to discover whether or not you are right about that in time
.
Striking points? I thought that was always the case with my comments. The point about Indonesia and Indonesians’ failure to explain and present themselves to the world originated from discussions about the sad state of social science and social scientists in Indonesia. Just to give you an example: the best general survey of Indonesian history remains that written by an Australian in the English language.
The other day my (Indonesian) wife showed me some books that she acquired in Mexico. They were all social and political history, all in Spanish written by Mexicans. I told her that the equivalent books for Indonesia had yet to be written. A country’s culture is not only its costumes, dances or religious ceremony. A large part of a country’s culture is the texts that describe, analyze and explain it.
was thinking about Garuda not flying via Medan to Amsterdam as one of the reasons. Since I’ve only been to Medan once, and didnt really sightseeing, I cant really say much. The road in Medan is a bit better than in Bandar Lampung.. but I feel ‘safer’ in Lampung on the road than in Medan. I could only imagine old people having heart attack on Sumatra roads..
Fully agree with your inspiring advice.
@Mauricio: I hereby officially confirm all of your comments are striking, valuable and high quality >:D. And very welcome of course
.
By the way: Not commanding Bahasa Indonesia myself I have to take your word as for the present state of social science. Perhaps it stands to reason in an empire with traditions of oral history. Yet I have to add the few publications in English by Onghokham to me seem thorough and a good read as well.
@ triesti: Back then Medan was the first place I set foot on Indonesian territory, after a stopover in Singapore. (We had S’pore Airlines as our carrier). Nowadays direct flights to Jakarta and Bali may – from the point of view in North Sumatra- definitely be a disadvantage.
As for the roads, I’ve had some recent experience driving from Jambi to Lubuklinggau ( and back). Hellish. It’s a miracle we survived. The road-conditions are unbelievably bad indeed.
@ utomo: You flatter me ;D +
. But then what else could I expect from a smart and wise man like you ? >;] + 
Javanese has a literary tradition longer than, for example, Russian. Yet the literary output and quality in Javanese or by Javanese, a group consisting of some 80 million people, is miniscule to that of Russian.
It used to be said of the Balkans that its problem was that it produced more history than it was able to consume. Perhaps the problem here is that the country has produced more history than its peoples care to know and consume. In this historical sense, compared to other nations I find Indonesians to be less than self-aware.
The Mexican Nobel Laureate Octavio Paz once said that there comes a point in a nation’s development where it becomes actively self-aware, a stage of awareness beyond that of a child, more akin to that as a teenager coming of age. For Paz, Mexico reached that stage about century ago (during the Revolution). For Indonesia and Indonesians that stage is still in the future…
@ Mauricio:
.
So I drop my hypothesis about oral traditions
You mean there is a literary tradition, but Indonesian equivalents to Pushkin, Gogol ,Lermontov, Dostoyesky,Tolstoy or Chechov are lacking ? Something like a Javanese kali compared to the Russian Volga?
So, if that’s the case, what’s the name of the kali?
. Doesn’t Pramoedya Ananta Toer provide all the necessary ingredients for the national narrative? That is, only up to the point where a literary contribution is concerned of course.
(BTW: On second thought: I’m not so sure questions on national identity or national narratives are going to help tourism. Branding does though. The difference being historians deal with the truth about realities from the past, marketeers are concerned about images and perceptions in the present. )