British Consulate Visits to Lombok

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BRITISH CONSULATE GENERAL VISITS LOMBOK

Senggigi , March 18th 2004 - The Lombok Times
Jakarta-based British Consulate General Mr. Jim Lidell and his wife visited the island of Lombok for a few days in the middle of March to investigated its potential and discuss the question of how to promote British tourism on Lombok. The couple stayed at the Holiday inn, where they were looked after very well, thanks to the attention of Director of Sales Jelantik Suhartha and Mr. Freddy Pantouw, who made the British Consulate familiar with Lombok’s beauty by showing him and his wife several special sports on the island.

Mr. Liddell was very impressed whit that which Lombok has to offer its visitor: white, quite beaches (especially on the Gillis), fascinating culture and friendly people. Nevertheless he emphasized the need for a pro-active attitude of Lombok people towards promoting their island to the outside world. He said: "People will come to Lombok if Lombok actively makes it self known. People will come to Lombok if they hear about positive experiences from other people. So if current tourists enjoy themselves here, they will tell their friends will come. This is the mechanism".

Upon the question what his opinion was on the effect of the Bali-bom, the potential thereat of thereat of terrorists attacks according again, SARS, chicken flue, malaria, dengue fever (demam berdarah) and the current elections on the tourist industry, he answered: ‘’the travel-ban on Indonesia that has been issued by the British and other Embassies all over the world is coursed by number of factors, a number institutions working together. It still remains an individual decision to go and travel to Indonesia.

To reduce the effect of this ban the people who the visit your island must become convicted of its safety. So this is your first task now: ensure safety. Make visitors feel safe and make it priority on all levels: political, business, and so on. then a gain the same mechanism will apply: world of mounts is the most powerful source of advertisement become active in ensuring safety so people will go back to their countries and tell others that Lombok is safe. Make them experience it.’’

The consulate also had some comments on the way people preserve their environment of Lombok. He said ‘’you must concentrate you efforts on maintenance of your beautiful island. Don’t let it be wasting away! Like your beaches, it is a real shame that they are so dirty. Try to actively look for ways to decrease this habit. Why do people here think the world is rubbish bin? It is not, they should be thought about the plastic, the effects of their litter one the environment. It is short-term thinking they use: out of sight, out of heart. When my water bottle is thrown into the seal I don’t see it anymore so it’s gone, but that is not how its works. Because there is so much beauty on this island, beauty which is renewed in cycles, it is tempting to not care so much about rubbish. Beauty remains, isn’t it so? Well, this is why people need to be educated in matters of environmental preservation.

They need to know more about the long term effects of their litter in the sea and on the land. Did you know the cigarette ashes take seven years to decompose? Well, there you go. And this is only cigarette ashes. When I worked in Australia (Mr. Liddel has a long career of several placements behind him: He work in Zimbabwe, Australia (Perth), Fiji, South Korea and Argentina (Buenos Aires) I work together with the environmentalist there and they had a beautiful saying put on the beaches in Perth. It went like this: Leave nothing but footprints, take nothing but photographs”.

Thank you Mr. Liddel for this little jewel and your visit to our beautiful island. We hope that our word of mouth helps us to maju (= prosper). Good luck with your Indonesian (a course in ‘Yogya is scheduled very soon) and your placement in Jakarta. We hope you maju too!

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