Open Letter To Minister Mari Pangestu

The Jakarta Post, 3 December 2011 - My name is Dennis G. Kloeth and I am the founder of Golf Promo Indonesia. For the past 12 years, through our website indogolf.com, Golf Promo Indonesia has been actively and globally promoting Indonesia’s fabulous world of golf and leisure, which also includes Indonesia’s hospitality and spa industry as well as its rich and diverse world of art and culture. Our website attracts more than 55,000 visitors a month.

Globally, golf tourism is a US$30 billion industry (2011 figures). In Asia, Thailand attracts roughly 200,000 foreign golfers each year, while Indonesia attracts no more than 5,000.

In Asia, Thailand is the undisputed leader, and earns more than $500 million in revenues from inbound golf tourism. Knowing all that, for the past 12 years we have attempted to create synergy and cooperation between us and the Ministry of Tourism, but these attempts have been unsuccessful so far.

Lately and ever since your appointment as Indonesia’s new minister for tourism, much has been said about boosting tourism in Indonesia and making it one of the main contributors to Indonesia’s economy.

In an article printed in The Jakarta Post on Nov. 22, 2011, on boosting tourism, it was stated that to support tourism development a total of $13.74 billion was needed. Given what we know about Thailand’s inbound golf industry, one important sector that could boost tourism (and hard currency income) could definitely be inbound golf travel to Indonesia.

Moreover, with perfect infrastructure in place, not much money has to be spent on the development of such and improving ways of getting foreign golfers to our fabulous courses.

For the past three weeks, daily and relentlessly, I have tried to contact your office in order to request an audience to discuss with you sustainable and affordable plans to promote Indonesia as one of the world’s best golf destinations.

Getting past your electronic telephone operator, however, has turned out to be utterly impossible and in the end, and after three weeks, I have had to give up. Therefore, allow me to (respectfully) approach you through this open letter.

With hard work, together we can do a lot in the coming three years. What we ask from you is to give us a chance to present to you our elaborate plans with respect to the promotion of Indonesia as the world’s next golf destination. We have clear ideas as to how to creatively and affordably promote Indonesia Golf and transparently run and manage a reasonable budget as well as preventing it from being misused.

Finally, we clearly see experts and professionals from your ministry working closely with experts from the golf and travel industry as well as from the creative publicity industry. In doing so, we surely aim at finally creating a long overdue synergy between government and private enterprise.

I am looking forward to hearing from you or from your staff in the not too distant future.

Dennis G. Kloeth
South Tangerang, Banten