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Tourism authority to pour charm over Lake Toba
From a scenic sunset lake view to traditional ulos cloth-making, Lake Toba is rich with unexplored charm that may soon be unveiled as a tourism treasure
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From a scenic sunset lake view to traditional ulos cloth-making, Lake Toba is rich with unexplored charm that may soon be unveiled as a tourism treasure.
A newly established tourism authority is set to lay out a development plan for the region to meet the official target of quadrupling tourists to 1 million by 2019 with an expected revenue of US$1.2 billion.
Despite being the world’s largest volcanic lake, North Sumatra’s natural beauty has only seen visits from 250,000 tourists last year.
Tourism Minister Arief Yahya said the Toba Single Tourism Authority, the directors and top officials of which were inaugurated on Wednesday, would design a master plan for the region, including a 600-hectare area managed by the Environment and Forestry Ministry, as a guide to develop necessary infrastructure, theme parks, hotels and a special economic zone (KEK).
“Toba Lake can become a world-class destination. [...] But, we first have to work on the master plan,” he said.
In spite of its importance, a tourism master plan for the area has yet to be drawn up. The Public Works and Public Housing Ministry had relied on its own infrastructure master plan to help develop the region.
Drafting such a tourism master plan will also be important for the government as it attempts to submit a proposal to the World Bank in search for a $200 million loan, according to Arief. Apart from Lake Toba, the loan will also be used to develop two other emerging tourist destinations surrounding Mandalika Beach in West Nusa Tenggara and Borobudur temple in Central Java.
The minister further said while the master plans for the three tourist sites were expected to be completed by mid-June next year, the visioning for Lake Toba should be finished by December.
As it aims to double the number of foreign tourists to 20 million over three years, the government has outlined 10 emerging destinations, including Lake Toba, Borobudur temple, and Thousand Islands in Jakarta, to complement Indonesia’s top tourist destination, Bali.
These new locations are set to receive half of total tourist visits in 2019.
Following the designation of these sites, the government also plans to establish a single tourism authority in each, as well as in four other locations, such as Labuan Bajo in East Nusa Tenggara and Wakatobi in Southeast Sulawesi. A presidential regulation to support it is slated for issuance next month.
The single tourism authority will help simplify regulations in regencies and generate more investment. Each authority will be in charge of 300 to 500 ha areas.
Toba Single Tourism Authority head Arie Prasetyo said his office had hired a Singapore-based master planner to create a design covering 600 ha of land.
“I think the master plan, as well as asset management, for example in regard to whether we will have to borrow it [land] from the Environment and Forestry Ministry, will be very critical going forward,” he said.
The authority is in the process of opening a 200-ha garden near Lake Toba, as requested by First Lady Iriana during a visit, Arie added.
The site is part of the additional 400-ha in Humbang Hasundutan regency managed by the authority.
In response to the development plan, Indonesian Hotel and Restaurant Association (PHRI) chairman Hariyadi Sukamdani said investors would flock to Lake Toba once the infrastructure was built, as it has a lot of things to offer.
“[The Sahid Group] is also looking into cooperation and investment there [...] I think other hotel operators will also be interested once the government’s support is clear,” said Hariyadi, president commissioner of Indonesian hotel chain Sahid Group.
The country is home to tourism potential that remains untapped, hampered by poor infrastructure, among others things.
Foreign tourist arrivals from January to September reached 7.78 million, a 10.53 percent increase from the same period last year, according to data from the Central Statistics Agency (BPS).
