Travel Firm Panorama Eyes 33 Percent Increase

Despite a decline in the number of tourist arrivals to Indonesia, publicly listed tours and travel firm PT Panorama Sentrawisata is upbeat it will achieve a 33 percent increase in revenue for 2006 by focusing more on outbound travel services according to a Business News report.

Panorama Sentrawisata's revenue for 2005 was Rp 741.57 billion, 24 percent higher than the Rp 597.83 billion earned in the previous year however board member Royanto Handaya said that the company was eyeing a 26.6 percent increase in gross profit to Rp 76 billion from Rp 60.23 billion in 2005. Despite the fact that the company made a profit in 2005 Panorama Sentrawisata did not distribute a dividend.

Royanto said that the company would pay more attention on outbound travel in order to cope with the declining number of foreign travellers visiting Indonesia. According to the Tourism Ministry the number of tourist arrivals between January and March declined by 12.83 percent to 871,800 from the same period last year due to worries over security, natural disasters and health including bird flu.

Panorama Sentrawisata which claims to be the number one tour and travel agent for outbound travel to the European region would continue to promote outbound travel to countries around the world. Most travellers preferred to visit countries in Southeast Asia and China.