S

anur is set to launch its new brand, Morning of the World, in a bid to strengthen its image as a world-class tourist destination.

The launch will be held on Aug. 20 during the opening of the Sanur Village Festival, an annual fiesta held to promote the local potential of the area, which has been touted an example of a well-managed tourist destination.

'€œMorning of the World is also the main theme of the festival. We aim to build an image that if people want to enjoy the beauty of Bali in the morning, Sanur is the place to be,'€ Ida Bagus '€œGus De'€ Gede Sidharta Putra, head of the festival'€™s organizing committee, said Monday.

Although Sanur was already a well-known destination, creating a brand was necessary to build a similar perception among tourism stakeholders and with visitors that Sanur was the island'€™s best place to enjoy the morning, said Sidharta, who is also chairman of the Sanur Development Foundation (YPS).

'€œWe were inspired by Jawaharlal Nehru, who once said that Bali is the morning of the world, as he was impressed by the beauty of the island when he came here in 1954. And Sanur is situated on the coast facing east, enabling visitors to see the sunrise here.'€

The branding is also considered an important strategy for tourism promotion, as stakeholders aim to focus on developing the area'€™s competitive advantages to distinguish it from other destinations.

Sanur has served as a center for other provinces in the country, as well as other countries across the globe, to hold comparative studies on tourism management thanks to its ability to maintain its original natural beauty, local culture and the people'€™s participation in development.

Many local and foreign institutions and businesses have come to Sanur to study its tourism and find out how society and the tourist industry manage the area with full support from the government.

In addition to its success in developing its tourism, Sanur has no beggars or homeless people roaming the area, and no illegal moneychangers or street vendors since it started working on these issues in 2000.

Today, the area is a pilot for other districts in Denpasar to achieve the same.

Stakeholders in the area agreed to immediately implement several regulations introduced in 2000 to maintain the orderliness of the area.

To maintain supervision, Sanur coordinated with the Denpasar Police and the Denpasar Public Order Agency (Satpol PP) to establish the so-called Village Security Agency (Bankamdes).

As sanitation was also crucial, locals started to procure trash bins with their own funds.

According to Gus De, these achievements had given YPS a stronger bargaining position with the Denpasar administration. He also said that Sanur contributed some 75 percent of the city'€™s tourism revenue.

To further develop tourist sites, the government has included Sanur as a pilot in its national tourism strategic area (KSPN) development program to boost its potential.

The KSPN process in Sanur is ongoing, with various physical and non-physical improvements taking place. For the first phase of development, which started this year, the central government allocated Rp 5 billion (US$424,000). Meanwhile, the Denpasar administration has also allocated special funding.

'€œBuilding the brand is part of the non-physical improvements, as well as promotion efforts,'€ Gus De said.

Physical improvements that will soon take place include building a center for small- and medium-sized enterprises and a parking lot at Mertasari Beach. Mertasari was chosen as a priority due to the amount of unused land available.