"This suggests that Indonesia is really secure and convenient for tourists to visit," Secretary General of the Culture and Tourism Ministry Wardiyatmo said here on Wednesday.
The bomb terror only hit several parts of Indonesia, whereas the country had vast territory and its tourist sites varied, he said. No tourists had so far canceled a plan to visit Indonesia following the spate of bomb threats.
"Therefore, we must inform the market of any latest developments so the market knows what has really happened here," he said.
The bomb scare also had not affected tourist arrivals from Singapore, Malaysia and Japan, he said.
"Neither have Japanese tourist arrivals in Indonesia been affected in the wake of March 11 massive quake that unleashed devastating tsunami in Japan."
Head of the Yogyakarta Tourism Office Tazbir meanwhile said tourist arrivals would be affected if reports on bomb scare were exaggerated. "Therefore, news reports on bomb terror must be written in a proportional way," he said.
A series of bomb threats had rocked parts of Indonesia over the past two weeks. On March 15, four packages containing books with bombs planted in them were sent to Ulil Abshar Abdalla, activist of the Islam Liberal Network, Goris Mere, chief of the National Anti-Narcotics Agency, Yapto Soeryosumarno, chief of the Pancasila Youth organization, and Ahmad Dhani, a musician.
Then, a plastic bag containing a bomb was also found in Cibubur, Bogor district. A Bank Central Asia (BCA) building at Serpong Road, Banten Province, also received a bomb threat on March 18. On March 19, a church at Titi Papan Road in Medan, North Sumatran province, also received a bomb threat.
source : kompas.com
