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Diaspora promises to promote '10 New Balis'
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The surrounding highlands afford visitors picturesque views of Lake Toba. (Shutterstock/-)
T
he Tourism Ministry and the Indonesian Diaspora Network Global (IDN Global) have expressed interest in working together to promote Indonesia’s burgeoning tourist destinations called the 10 New Balis.
“Many foreign tourists still only know Bali but not other beautiful places in Indonesia. Some of them do not even know that Bali is part of Indonesia,” said the ministry’s deputy assistant for tourism development, Sigit Wicaksono, during a meeting with the IDN Global in Jakarta on Tuesday.
"[Therefore] we hope that members of the diaspora community can contribute to the promotion of Indonesia in the countries they live. We would really appreciate that," he said.
The government, under the instruction of President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo, launched the 10 New Bali program with the aim of developing 10 new tourist destinations other than Bali that would lure foreign tourists.
The destinations are Lake Toba in North Sumatra, Tanjung Kelayang Beach in Bangka Belitung, Thousand Islands in Jakarta, Tanjung Lesung Beach in Banten, Borobudur in Central Java, Bromo Tengger Semeru in East Java, Morotai in North Maluku, Wakatobi in Southeast Sulawesi, Labuan Bajo in East Nusa Tenggara (NTT) and Mandalika in West Nusa Tenggara (NTB)
The government has an ambitious target of welcoming 20 million foreign tourists in 2019, which would mark an increase of 26.5 percent over last year’s 15.81 million.
Sigit said the ministry also welcomed the diaspora’s participation in promoting Indonesian cuisine, which, according to him, contributed most to the creative economy in the regions.
