Jakarta, Dec 30 (Antara) - Well-known for its burial caves and
preserved cultures, Tanah Toraja District in the South Sulawesi Province
is bracing itself to become the country's major tourist destination
besides Bali Island.
To introduce Tanah Toraja as an international tourist resort, the local
government has been holding the Lovely December event for the last six
years. This year, the Sixth Lovely December was held along with a
three-day Toraja International Festival 2013 (TIF 2013).
Tourism and Creative Economy Minister Mari Elka Pangestu inaugurated
the Toraja International Festival (December 29-30) in Tanah Toraja
district.
The word toraja comes from the Bugis language to riaja, meaning "people of the uplands".
The Dutch colonial government named the people Toraja in 1909. Torajans
are renowned for their elaborate funeral rites, burial sites carved
into rocky cliffs, massive peaked-roof traditional houses known as
tongkonan, and colorful wood carvings.
Toraja funeral rites are important social events, usually attended by
hundreds of people and lasting for several days, according to Wikipedia.
The TIF 2013 aims to further promote Tanah Toraja's preserved cultures,
local traditions and tourism attractions, to make the 'Land of
Torajans' into one of the country's major tourist resorts.
During the opening of the TIF 2013, Minister Mari Elka Pengestu stated
that the government was committed to making Toraja the second major
tourist destination in the country after the tourist resort province of
Bali. It would serve as an international tourist destination attracting
both domestic and foreign tourists.
"We hope that in 2014, coinciding with the 70th anniversary of
Indonesia's independence, Toraja will be showcased to the world. We are
highly committed to promoting Toraja as one of the international tourism
destinations outside Bali," she noted.
"This event is a good start to promote Toraja in the eyes of the world,
and it (the festival) will become an annual event in Toraja," the
minister added.
Seven countries, Zimbabwe, Canada, France, Kazaktan, Italy, Senegal and the United States, took part in the TIF 2013.
According
to the minister, the festival seeks to further promote Toraja
throughout the world, though it is already well-known for its natural
beauty, rich cultural heritage, customs and food.
The local government has resolved to regain Toraja's glory after
tourist visits to the region declined sharply, leaving the numbers at a
mere 30 thousand, following the economic crisis in 1998.
Toraja, during its glorious period, had been visited by about 385
thousand tourists in 1996. The economic crisis and Bali bombings in 2002
and 2005 have had severe impacts on the tourist arrivals in Toraja.
But now, tourists visiting Toraja have been on a rise. Up to September
this year, about 90 thousand tourists have already visited the region.
"A total of 90 thousand tourists have visited Toraja up to September.
In the same period last year only 40 thousand visitors were registered.
We hope that this year the number of visitors will reach 100 thousand,"
stated North Toraja (Torut) District Head Frederik Batti Sorring, over
the weekend.
He added that in certain months, namely in June and in the period from
September to December, hotel rooms were fully occupied. This was because
during this period, many Torajans returned to their villages from
outside the region to perform Rambu 'Solo Rambu' and 'Tuka Rambu'
rituals for deceased family members or relatives, or 'Rampanan Kapa'
wedding ceremonies held in Toraja customary traditions.
Besides, Tanah Toraja has also been organizing the Lovely December
event for six years now, inviting visitors to the coffee producing
region to witness different arts and cultural performances, as well as
to visit the tourist resort areas of Londo's and Lemo's burial caves.
This year end, the Lovely December event was held along with the TIF
2013. The festival was an effort by the Ministry of Tourism and Creative
Economy to create a breakthrough for the development of tourism
destinations in South Sulawesi.
Head
of Tourism Promotion Affairs for Kalimantan and Sulawesi of the
Ministry of Tourism and Creative Economy Trindiana Tikupasang stated
that the international festival was enlivened with domestic and
international participants with expected number of visitors reaching
three thousand during the event.
"We
want to turn Toraja as a choice tourist destination in South Sulawesi.
We hope visitors will help expose Toraja's arts and cultural richness
abroad. For this we have invited music groups from Africa, Europe,
Canada and Central Asia," Tikupasang noted.
During the event, they presented their countries' special music
performances. On the other hand, their Indonesian counterpart also
showcased a number of special Indonesian music such as North Sulawesi's
'Kolintang' music, 'Rebana' percussion music of Jakarta and 'Saleum' of
Aceh. They presented the shows in the World Camp Music event. Torajan
natives presented traditional dances such as the'Manimbong' dance while
Bali showcased its 'Kecak' dance.
The TIF 2013 also organized workshops on photography, cultural seminars
and a demonstration in the production of Toraja cloth weaving called
'Toraja Melo.'
The tourism ministry official stated that the
ministry of tourism hoped that the TIF 2013 participants and visitors
will serve as an agent of promotion abroad. "It is a realistic hope
because the TIF 2013 is an international event. We hope foreign tourists
to Toraja will increase, and add to the national foreign tourist
arrivals targeted at 8.6 million at the end of the year," Tikupasang
explained.
To increase the number of tourist arrivals, besides intensive
promotion, Toraja should also improve its infrastructures which serve as
vital means for tourist visiting the region.
North
Toraja District Head Frederik Batti Sorring stated that Toraja tourism
had shown significant development but still faces poor infrastructure
such as damaged roads and peding land clearance for the construction of
the Pontiku new international airport.
According to Minister Mari Elka Pangestu, Tanah Toraja, which now
consists of two districts, namely the Toraja and the North Toraja
Districts, needs to improve infrastructures to support tourism
development.
"The common homework now is to improve the infrastructure. I see there
are many damaged roads in a number of tourist destinations that need to
be repaired," the minister noted.
She stated that her ministry, the ministry of transportation, the
ministry of public works and other related ministries had a common
commitment to develop Toraja as one of the country's major international
tourist destination.
"We have committed to develop Toraja jointly as a tourism district. We
have to sustain and maintain the local socioeconomic cultures so that
the local tourism can thrive and empower the local people," the minister
emphasized.
She
added that the Lovely December event had been held for the sixth time
and it should be further developed to make it an annual festival that
attracts many visitors.
In
the meantime, South Sulawesi Governor Syahrul Yasin Limpo stated that
the Toraja tourism development will also be supported with a new airport
which is now under construction and expected to be operational in 2015.
The governor stated that Toraja tourism would further be bolstered with
the presence of the airport. He assured that with the availability of
an airport, the number of tourist arrivals in Toraja will increase.
"I hope large aircrafts will be able to land at the Toraja new airport
in 2015. I want the airport project to be completed before the United
Indonesia Cabinet II ends their term (in October) next year (2014)," the
governor reiterated.***3***
(T.A014/INE)
EDITED INE
(T.A014/A/BESSR/F. Assegaf) 30-12-2013 |
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