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Wonderful Sail 2 Indonesia Rally 2017 travels across archipelago
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Batam at sunset. For three months, the participants of Wonderful Sail 2 Indonesia Rally will sail across the archipelago, exploring dozens of destinations in Indonesia from Langgur in Southeast Maluku to Batam in Riau Islands. (Shutterstock/File)
T
he annual Wonderful Sail 2 Indonesia Rally has finally kicked off. For three months, the participants will sail across the archipelago, exploring dozens of destinations in Indonesia from Langgur in Southeast Maluku to Batam in Riau Islands.
This year marks the 4th anniversary of the international rally and the first time it is conducted entirely in Indonesia.
The rally began on July 23 of which the yachters traveled to Langgur Maluku and will stay there until July 27.
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“We’ve already prepared 65 tourist attractions. Currently, the one that’s been getting a lot of attention is the 100-meter cave in Wear Aur. The cave has rooms filled with beautiful stalactites. Welcome to Langgur,” said Southeast Maluku Tourism Agency head Roy Rahajaan.
Tourism Ministry’s deputy head of Marine Tourism Acceleration Team Asep Muhammad said the event could help promote marine tourism to foreign tourists, especially yacht communities around the world.
“Ambon in Maluku is included in 10 priority underwater destinations. There’s also Bali, Lombok in West Nusa Tenggara, Labuan Bajo and Alor in East Nusa Tenggara, Derawan in East Kalimantan, Bunaken in North Sulawesi, Togean in Central Sulawesi, Wakatobi in Southeast Sulawesi, and Raja Ampat in West Papua,” said Asep.
“Out of 68 participating yachts, there are at least 150 foreign tourists hailing from Australia, New Zealand, United States, Canada, Germany, United Kingdom, Netherlands, Belgium, Italia, Spain and France,” he added.
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Tourism Minister Arief Yahya said that Wonderful Sail 2 Indonesia aimed to help to improve Indonesian tourism.
“From the in-and-out clearance, customs, immigration, quarantine, to harbormasters, all parties should go all out to support this if they wish Indonesia's yacht tourism to compete with other global players,” said Arief.
“It’s a lot better now with the availability of website https://yachters-indonesia.id
Below is the schedule for Multihull Solutions – Wonderful Sail 2 Indonesia Rally 2017: (kes)
- Southeast Maluku (July 23-27)
- Banda Neira, Banda Islands (July 30 July - Aug. 2)
- New South (Aug. 4 – 7)
- Wakatobi (Aug. 10-13)
- Maumere (Aug. 16-19)
- Ende (Aug. 21-24)
- Labuan Bajo (Aug. 26-29)
- Sumbawa (Sept. 1-4)
- Lombok (Sept. 7-11)
- Bali (Sept. 14-17)
- Kumai, West Kotawaringin (Sept. 27-30)
- Bangka (Oct. 4 – 8)
- Bidan (Oct. 11 – 14)
- Tanjung Pinang (Oct. 15-18)
- Batam (Oct. 20)
