Jakarta, May 31 (Antara) - Indonesia's Sumatran Province of Jambi is
holding a festival at its Buddhist temple in Muarajambi District to
promote tourism and the temple compound, believed to be one of the
ancient Malay Kingdom's heritage sites.
"There are several aspects that can help to effectively popularize the
Muarojambi temples, one of which is designing attractive tourism
packages," Deputy Minister of Tourism and Creative Economy Sapta
Nirwandar said when opening the Muarojambi Temple Festival in Jambi on
Thursday.
To be held until June 1, 2014, the four-day festival presented various
local cultures, traditional arts and creative economic products. "The
ancient temples in Muarajambi keep alive very important cultural values
that need to be preserved. We are now trying to get recognition from
UNESCO," Sapta Nirwandar said.
He added that the Muarajambi temple site is the most unique historic
site in Sumatra, although not all of the temples there have been
explored. The government is developing the site and preserving it as an
ancient heritage location, while tapping its economic potential.
"It offers two benefits. One, is a direct impact on the local people,
and the other is indirect on business players outside the city of Jambi,
such as airline operators," Sapta said.
In this case, the Muara Jambi Temple Festival is very important in popularizing the temple site.
The festival presented Jambi's traditional dances, tourism rallies,
expo and tourism bazaars. It also offered musical entertainment with
popular artists.
The deputy minister said that the festival could also be held during
the night to lengthen the period of presentation. The festival is mainly
held during the day.
"We will discuss with the district head and the governor whether the
festival can be held during the evening and night time, so that it will
become more interesting," Sapta added.
In the meantime, Head of the Youths and Sports Service of Muarajambi
regional government, Nur Subiantoro, said the festival aimed to
introduce the Murajambi temple site as one of Jambi's historic and
religious tourism destinations for both domestic and foreign tourists.
Besides Malay traditional arts and cultures, the festival also
introduced Jambi's creative economic products, such as 'batik' clothes
from Jambi and traditional local foods.
This year¿s festival is designed with interesting touches, different
from those held in previous years, said Subiantoro. "We designed the
festival in such a way that this year it will become merrier, to promote
the temple site to local and international tourists," he added.
The temple complex has 82 ancient structures, of which eight have been
preserved and opened to the public. Located at the Batanghari riverside,
the Muarojambi temple complex is about 40 kilometers from Jambi city.
It represents the heritage of the ancient Malay Kingdom during the
Hindu-Buddhist era that lasted between the 7th and 13th centuries.
The eight temples that have been opened to the public and have been
preserved are the Gumpung, Tinggi I, Tinggi II, Kembar Batu, Candi
Astano, Gedong I, Gedong II and Kedaton.
Other discoveries in the temple site include an ancient canal
encircling the temple site that connects one building to another.
In order to further develop the complex, the local government is developing a master plan.
Jambi Governor Hasan Basri expressed hope that the master plan of the
Muarajambi temple complex would be finished this year. "Based on our
target and program, the master plan would be finished at the end of the
year (2014)," the governor said at the opening of the Muarajambi Temple
Festival on Thursday.
Governor Hasan Basri pointed out that the development of the temple
complex as an object of historical and religious tourism would provide
direct benefits for the local community¿s economy.
"We are planning to develop the people's creative economy and
infrastructure, including hotels, car terminals, roads, transportation
and recreational parks, such as water boom facilities, in the future,"
the governor said.
To support the tourist resort development, the local government, in
cooperation with the Ministry of Public Works, develops infrastructures,
particularly river and land (road) transportation systems.
Thus, infrastructure facilities would support the combination of infrastructure and creative economic development.
Besides this, efficient transportation facilities will also make it
easier for tourists to visit the temple site using water transportation
on the Batanghari River or land transportation.
"We also plan to provide ships from Jambi city to Muarojambi for
tourists who are keen to enjoy the sights of the Batanhari River. On the
river banks, restaurants will be built to sell special local foods,
such as pindang or pepes patin (salted and spiced catfish
soup)," Deputy Minister Sapta Nirwandar said.
According to Sapta, the local government should be able to design
interesting tourist packages to attract both domestic and foreign
tourists.
The Muarojambi Temple Festival is being organized at the Muaro Jambi
temple site, which lies on an area that is part of seven villages.
Sapta
Nirwandar explained that interesting tourism packages can be marketed
in big cities, such as Jakarta, Medan, and other large cities frequented
by tourists.
Besides this, sports tournaments, such as cycling races, Southeast
Asian Games, and the World Cup, can also be used to promote tourism
potentials, he added. Sports spectators can undertake a trip to a
tourism site, which is not far from the sports activity centers.
"Holding
a cultural festival is really needed, like the Muarajambi Temple
Festival, that has been held in the past several years and attracted
increasing numbers of visitors every year," the deputy minister pointed
out.***2***
(T.A014/INE/H-YH)
(T.SYS/A/BESSR/A/Yosep) 31-05-2014 20:35 |
Tidak ada komentar:
Posting Komentar