V

ulcania, a French mountain resort developer, has offered a mountain tourism concept based on education and technology to be applied at a number of mountain resorts in East Java, a concept resembling that in central France's Auvergne region.

Vulcania scientific director Fran*ois-Dominique de Larouzi*re, said Wednesday in Surabaya that one of the reasons behind choosing mountain resort areas in East Java was the ideal location of mountains, backed by dynamic communities to develop the resorts such as those developed in Auvergne.

However, he said his company would not provide funds to develop the concept in East Java.

"We can only promise to provide the tourism concept and human resource empowerment of people living around the locations together with the International Labor Organization *ILO*," he said.

Vulcania also could not estimate the costs needed to set up the projects because they were still in the initial discussion process.

East Java Tourism Office head Harun said they had finally chosen the Bromo mountain resort in Probolinggo regency to develop the concept after exploring a number of mountainous areas in East Java over several days.

He said his office would further discuss the subject with all stakeholders, in this case the owner of the area, the provincial administration and authorities from the Bromo Tengger Semeru National Park.

"This must be done to ensure the area is not a critical area, such as a catchment area or protected forest," Harun said.

However, in principle, his office would provide full support, but only if the project could bring in a lot of benefits (by raising tourist numbers), was economically beneficial for local residents (by absorbing the local manpower), and could turn the area into an international icon to place East Java at the same level as other provinces, including Bali.

But he said his office would not be able to fund the project independently without involving investors.

"We are still in the initial stage of discussion, and further and serious discussions are needed," Harun said.

The tourism sector in East Java has contributed extensively to the provincial revenue. Based on the passenger exit survey in 2008, East Java earned US$149.16 million from the tourism sector.

Tax revenues from hotels, restaurants and entertainment establishments in the province's 20 regencies and municipalities totaled Rp 181.1 billion, while the tourism industry employed 180,882 workers.

The Vulcania Park concept developed by the French company is considered grand. Its infrastructure includes an underground location equipped with state-of-the-art facilities and equipment, such as tectonic quake monitors, wide-screen monitors and a museum.