Indonesia's annual travel fair Tourism Indonesia Mart and Expo (TIME) concluded in Makassar Thursday with an estimated transaction of 15 million U.S. dollars.

At a closing press conference of TIME 2006, Meity Robot, chairman of the Steering Committee, said the three-day event was attended by 110 buyers from 21 countries. Top five buyers were the Netherlands, China, South Korea, Malaysia and Indonesia.

The event was also successful in attracting 124 sellers from 20 provinces in Indonesia.

"There was doubt on the air when we selected Makassar, capital of South Sulawesi province in eastern part of Indonesia, as venue of TIME 2006. But now, as you can see, the conduct of TIME in Makassar has proven successful as also we hear positive comments from buyers, sellers as well as international press during their attendance at the mart as well as during functions," he added.

Since 1994 when the first TIME was held in Jakarta, capital of Indonesia, the event have never been held out of Java Island.

The shifting of TIME to the gateway of eastern of Indonesia is aimed at promoting Makassar was well as eastern Indonesian region to the international market, which will eventually be at the same level with Bali and Yogyakarta in attracting visitors, he stressed.

TIME 2005 in Yogyakarta was attended by 84 buyers from 23 countries and 126 sellers from 20 provinces in the country.

TIME next year will be held in the resort island of Bali from Sept. 25 to 28. "Makassar will have opportunity to host TIME 2008 as per previous agreement that Makassar will host TIME for two times," he said.

Indonesia is facing one of its worst years in terms of tourism following the bombing in Bali from last October, an earthquake in Central Java in May and a tsunami in July in Pangandaran, West Java this year.

"However, we expect a recovery for the second half of this year. We now hope to welcome between 5 and 5.5 million foreign visitors compared to just 5 million last year," Thamrin Bachri, head of marketing sector at the Culture and Tourism ministry told reporters.

He expressed belief that growth will resume in 2007 with a target of 6 million foreign visitors, and the country still hopes to welcome up to 10 million visitors around 2010 with tourism revenues reaching 10 billion U.S. dollars.

Source: Xinhua