T

he Tourism and Creative Economy Ministry is scheduled to promote the Musi River in South Sumatra by combining sports and tourism in the Musi Triboatton 2012 from Nov. 6 to Nov. 11, with the aim of showcasing the beauty of the river overseas.

The sports to be introduced at the event will be rafting, canoeing and traditional-boat racing along the river spanning a distance of 500 kilometers from Empat Lawang regency, Musi Rawas regency, Banyuasin regency and ending in Palembang.

As well as 10 teams from Indonesia, there will be guest teams from Malaysia, Singapore, Brunei Darussalam, Thailand, Australia, Vietnam, New Zealand, Nepal, Cambodia and Myanmar.

“We hope through this event that tourism activities along the Musi River will be introduced to the world. There are many interesting tourism sites along the river and it will be useless if they are not promoted,” head of South Sumatra Tourism Office Tony Panggarbesi said on Saturday.

The tourism sites include, among others, farming of indigenous animals like crocodiles and belida fish. There is also the exotic Kemaro Island on the river, which is located not far from Palembang.

Data from the Central Statistic Agency (BPS) shows an increasing monthly trend of foreign tourist arrivals to South Sumatra, from 597 in May this year to 932 in June.

The Musi River event is expected to help increase the number of foreign tourist arrivals to South Sumatra, Tony said.

During the Sriwijaya Kingdom era, Musi River used to be the busiest trade route in the region. Local people at that time relied heavily on the river to travel from one area to the other.

“The Musi River event is expected to help raise the popularity of the river. A similar program has been conducted in European countries and also in Thailand, which has develop a river cruise business,” image-building director of the Tourism and Creative Economy Ministry Esthy Reko Astuty said as quoted by Kompas.com.

At present, the Musi River does not get much attention and has tended to deteriorate due mainly to waste from factories discharged directly into the river. This poor condition is worsened by the uncontrollable growth of water hyacinth which covers part of the river.