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Thousands flock to zoos and beaches
Thousands of Idul Fitri travelers have been spending their holiday flocking to zoos and beaches across the country
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housands of Idul Fitri travelers have been spending their holiday flocking to zoos and beaches across the country.
'We spent the first day of Idul Fitri visiting relatives and friends, so I decided to visit Gembira Loka [GL] Zoo with my grandchildren today,' Pariyat of Pranti, Sanden, Bantul, Yogyakarta, said while visiting the zoo on Wednesday.
Pariyat said he decided to visit GL because his grandchildren wanted to see the zoo's new set of penguins.
Visitors came to the zoo on buses and in private cars. Most of them came from cities outside Yogyakarta such as Jakarta, Bogor and Surabaya, as shown by their vehicles' license plate numbers. Other visitors hailed from Central Java cities, including Magelang, Purworejo and Surakarta.
The zoo's president director, KMT A. Tirtodiprojo, said some 20,000 tourists visited the zoo on the second day of Idul Fitri on Tuesday.
'The figure is expected to continue increasing into the weekend,' he said.
He added that in preparation for the big days ahead, he had carried out customer-service training.
Thousands of people also jammed the Surabaya Zoo despite the recent animal deaths there.
The zoo, however, easily attracted visitors with its center of the city location and low admission fee.
In Semarang, Central Java, tourists were also seen crowding tourists attractions, including Taman Margasatwa Zoo.
Among the visitors were Amir, who brought along his two children to the zoo located across from Mangkang bus station on the border of Semarang city and Kendal regency, on Wednesday.
'They are on a two-week holiday. So I've brought them here to learn more about animals,' Amir said.
Wide-eyed children happily enjoyed observing wild animals such as tigers, elephants, crocodiles and other reptiles at the zoo.
Other places frequented by Idul Fitri tourists included the souvenir center on Jl. Pandanaran, Semarang, selling the city's specialties, such as lumpia (spring roll) and bandeng presto, or fish cooked in pressure cookers.
'Every time I come home to Semarang I always buy souvenirs here. I can find all the speciality cookies of Central Java here,' Ferry, an Idul Fitri exodus traveler, said while shopping on Jl. Pandanaran on Wednesday.
Besides the zoos, other popular tourist attractions were the Yogyakarta Palace, Malioboro, Kaliurang and different beaches on the province's southern coastal region.
Saripah, an exodus traveler from Bogor, West Java, said she visited the beach because she planned on doing so before traveling to Yogyakarta.
'We want to enjoy grilled fish after days of eating chicken curry and meat,' the mother of two said,
adding that what mattered most was spending time with her extended family.
Yogyakarta provincial Tourism Agency head Bambang Legowo said that various artistic performances had been prepared to entertain visiting tourists while they spent their holiday in the province.
'Until this weekend, we will perform more than 30 performances at different tourist attractions,' Bambang said.
The performances will feature, among others, traditional dances such as jathilan and reog, as well as campursari music.
'We want to lure more tourists through the performances,' he said.
Bambang said that over 300,000 tourists were expected to visit different beaches in the province's Bantul and Gunungkidul regencies.
