Jakarta, April 15 (Antara) - The Indonesian government has decided to accord priority to the development of 10 regions considered to have potential to attract foreign tourists, one of which is Wakatobi Park in Wakatobi District, Southeast Sulawesi.
Wakatobi Park in Southeast Sulawesi is one of the country's 50 national parks. It consists of four larger islands: Wangi-Wangi, Kaledupa, Tomia, and Binongko, as well as many smaller islands such as Tokobao, North Lintea, South Lintea, Kampenaune, Hoga, and Tolandono.
Wakatobi is also one of the 10 tourist destination regions accorded priority development so that they which will be in par with the country's tourist resort island of Bali.
However, recently it was reported that the development of Wakatobi does not live up to expectations.
Hence, President Joko Widodo (Jokowi) has called on the local authorities to pay more attention to Wakatobi. The president himself will in the near future inspect it.
Southeast Sulawesi Governor Nur Alam stated that the president is scheduled to visit the tourist destination. "I just met Jokowi at the National Palace yesterday, and he has already stated that he will visit Wakatobi in the near future," Nur Alam said, after attending a discussion on Southeast Sulawesi Province, on Tuesday. At the meeting, the president paid special attention to the region, calling for its accelerated development.
"He has called for developing the tourism destination of Wakatobi, which is part of the 10 Indonesian tourist destinations," the governor said.
About the plan related to the arrival of the president, Nur Alam remarked that his office was coordinating with the District Government and all relevant parties to prepare everything.
"Jokowi said during the meeting that God willing he would visit Wakatobi in the near future. We must immediately make arrangements for it," he stressed.
According to Nur Alam, one of the reasons for the president to directly inspect is to assure that his visit would attract more visitors to the tourist destination.
"The president hopes that his visit would boost tourist arrivals similar to Lake Toba in North Sumatra. Following his visit to the lake, the number of visitors then exploded," he revealed.
In the meantime, the local people of Southeast Sulawesi are ready to welcome President Joko Widodo (Jokowi) who will observe the development of Wakatobi, which has been decided as one the leading tourism destinations of the country.
"We the people of Wakatobi are ready to welcome Jokowi who wants to visit Wakatobi in the near future," Chairman of the Wakatobi Regional Legislative Assembly, Muhammad Ali, said through a telephone call from Wangiwangi, Wakatobi's capital, on Saturday.
According to him, Jokowi expressed his desire to visit Wakatobi during a limited cabinet meeting at the presidential office, which was also attended by the Governor of Southeast Sulawesi, on Monday (April 10).
At the meeting Jokowi asked the provincial government of Southeast Sulawesi and all ministries related to the development of tourism to pay attention to the development of tourism infrastructure in Wakatobi.
"The president noted that Wakatobi will become the best tourist destination for tourists after the supporting infrastructure in Wakatobi has been well established," he remarked.
He noted that the president's statement was basically an order of the head of state to the Southeast Sulawesi provincial government and the ministry concerned.
Therefore, the government and the people of Wakatobi must support the desire of the president to make Wakatobi a leading tourism destination in Indonesia. "The president believes that if the tourism of Wakatobi is developed and managed properly, it will be a great contribution to the national economic growth," he remarked.
President Jokowi has called for the optimal development of the marine tourism potential of Wakatobi in order to serve as a source of prosperity for the community.
Jokowi made the statement when he chaired a meeting for an evaluation of national strategic projects and priority programs in the Office of the President.
"Southeast Sulawesi has the potential to become a tourism sector, especially marine-based tourism," the president stated.
He added that the natural beauty of the sea in Wakatobi could be developed as a powerful magnet to attract tourists and foreign tourists.
Therefore, the president pointed out that the potential for marine tourism development needs to be optimized, because Wakatobi is a national tourism strategic area. For that purpose, it is necessary to facilitate access to transport and connectivity.
"It can also support infrastructure development, thus accelerating economic growth in Southeast Sulawesi, I am sure it will be faster," he remarked.
In Southeast Sulawesi, economic growth in 2016 amounted to 6.51 percent, with high growth underpinned by three key sectors namely agriculture, forestry, and fisheries.
These three sectors contributed to 24.3 percent, followed by the mining sector with a contribution of 19.35 percent, and the construction sector with a contribution of 14.02 percent.***1*** (A014/INE)EDITED BY INE(T.SYS/A/BESSR/A. Abdussalam) 15-04-2017 22:3 |
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