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Indonesia's frontier islands in line for ecotourism investment
The government says it is pushing for more private sector investment in Indonesiaâs frontier islands to develop their ecotourism potential, including maritime tourism
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The government says it is pushing for more private sector investment in Indonesia's frontier islands to develop their ecotourism potential, including maritime tourism.
The Maritime Affairs and Fisheries Ministry says it has surveyed all 92 frontier islands and has identified economic potential on each island to be presented in an expo it plans to hold next month.
Together with the Office of the Coordinating Economic Minister and the Tourism and Creative Economy Ministry, it has set up an 'acceleration team' to better coordinate government ministries and local administrations in speeding up development for those frontier islands, according to Asrul, an official for the investment and promotion of small islands at the Maritime Affairs and Fisheries Ministry.
'There are 92 frontier islands that are waiting to be developed, such as Brass island, which has underwater wreckage from World War II and would be a great tourist attraction,' he said of the future exhibition that is expected to welcome domestic as well as international investors.
'There's also countless diving spots with a vast variety of marine species. Benggala, or Batutigabelas, is another example, where there are all kinds of fish and coral,' he said during an event of the new Indonesian Tourism Industry Association (GIPI).
Indonesia is home to about 25 percent of fish species on the planet with various types of marine species such as fish, crustaceans, mollusks and marine plants of every size found in the country's iridescent coral.
Asrul said the government had only named 13,466 out of 17,000 plus islands in Indonesia, of which 92 were known as 'frontier islands', or islands that were located at the edge of Indonesia's territorial boundaries.
GIPI chairman Didien Junaedy said it should be natural for Indonesia to develop itself into a hub for maritime tourism given its status as the largest archipelago in the world.
However, a number of challenges still needed the government's attention, he explained.
He said Indonesia needed to improve the ease of issuance of cruising permits for yachts, for example, through a national single window for maritime tourism to blossom.
'The application for clearance approval for Indonesian territory [CAIT] needs to be streamlined to attract more yachts and cruises,' he said.
He also urged the government to raise budget allocations for its tourism ministry, mainly to increase funds for advertising.
'The government has to bear in mind that the tourism industry contributes generously to the state's revenues,' Didien said.
PT Visa Worldwide Indonesia data shows that tourism contributed 5 percent to Indonesia's gross domestic product (GDP) and created jobs for 8 million people in 2012.
Nunung Hasan ' chairwoman of the Maritime Tourism Business Association (Gahawisri), which is grouped under GIPI ' said Indonesia always had the potential, but not much was developed.
As a diver herself, she said Indonesians should explore their own country, thereby increasing domestic demand for marine tourism, which would be an anchor for frontier island development.
According to the US-based non-profit organization World Resources Institute, the world's dive tourism grows at a rate of 7 percent per year.
Meanwhile, the number of tourist arrivals in Indonesia stood at 4.87 million as of July, a 6 percent increase from 4.58 million in the same period last year, Central Statistics Agency (BPS) data shows.
The government aims to attract 8.6 million foreign tourists this year, compared to last year's 8.04 million, including 20 percent of them travelling for maritime tourism purposes, according to Tourism and Creative Economy Ministry secretary-general Ukus Kuswara.
He said the government also targeted net US$10 billion in foreign exchange from tourism this year, whereas tourism contributed $9.1 billion to the country's income in 2012, up by 5.81 percent compared to 2011.
Australia, Singapore, China, Malaysia and Japan are the top five countries for tourists visiting Indonesia, according to BPS data. (asw)
