/2011/09/29/724021293p.jpg)
An increasing commitment among businesses to use the rupiah for transactions in Lagoi, Bintan, Riau Islands, is a positive sign, as it will increase the sovereignty of the currency in its home market, an official has said.
Head of the Riau Islands branch of Bank Indonesia (BI), Gusti Raizal Eka Putra, said he welcomed the decline in the use of foreign currency in the area, which is a popular tourist destination.
“This has happened primarily as a result of the dissemination of the Currency Law, which BI, the Finance Ministry and business groups undertake on a regular basis,” Gusti said recently.
Since a few months ago, several resorts in the Lagoi International Tourist Region have been struggling to familiarize their guests with the new legal obligation to use the rupiah for domestic transactions.
The Bintan Banyan Tree Resort’s finance manager, Juned, said the resort’s staff were working hard to pass on information about the new government policy to their guests.
“They eventually accepted it, although some of them complained at first,” Juned told The Jakarta Post recently.
Meanwhile, Supri, assistant finance director at the Bintan Lagoon Resort, said that initially, the regulation had been met with resistance by foreign tourists.
“In the few months since the law was enacted, our international market fell. That was to be expected because tourists don’t want the bother [of exchanging their currency],” Supri said.
He said that before introducing the law, the government should have prepared a sufficient number of money-changer facilities.
Responding to this, the BI’s Gusti said his office had asked money changers in Tanjung Pinang to set up operations in Lagoi to help combat the limited number of licensed money changers in the area.
He added, however, that hotels and tourist resorts could open currency exchange counters if they established a new arm to their existing businesses.
“This [use of the rupiah for transactions] is a legal mandate that we have to implement,” Gusti said.
According to Law No. 7/2011 on currency, all sellers of goods and services are legally obliged to accept payment in rupiah in all transactions. Anyone who violates this instruction could face up to a year in jail and a Rp 200 million fine.
Gusti said he was confident that the lull in the number of tourists visiting Lagoi would not last long, explaining that most of the visitors to the tony resort destination planned their trips down to the last detail.
“Before arriving in Lagoi, these foreign tourists normally plan their trips well, including taking into consideration the ban on the use of foreign currency in the country,” he said.
The Lagoi International Tourist Region is home to seven resorts and international-standard golf courses covering a total combined area of 23,000 hectares.
Some 400,000 tourists visit the region annually, mostly via Singapore. The area was developed in 1991 in cooperation with the Singaporean government, while operations began in 1996 under the management of PT Bintan Resort Cakrawala. (Fadli)
