It did not take a long for people living in Likupang in North Minahasa, North Sulawesi, to learn the news about the government’s plan to make their home a popular tourist destination. 

However, most remain in the dark about the plan and how it will affect their families’ livelihoods.

“We don’t know yet what [the detailed plan] means for us. We hope the government will explain it to us, we hope that locals will be invited to work together," Onnie, 53, the owner of a food stall in the Pulisan Beach area in East Likupang, told The Jakarta Post in late November.

She said many locals, including herself, were still wondering about the development as they only learned of the plans from media outlets.

The government has listed Likupang as one of its five super-priority tourist destinations along with Labuan Bajo in East Nusa Tenggara, Lake Toba in North Sumatra, Mandalika in West Nusa Tenggara and Borobudur in Central Java. 

The destinations are part of President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo’s plan to develop “new Balis” to attract 20 million foreign tourists this year as his administration looks to tourism as a new motor of growth amid stagnating consumer spending and a declining manufacturing industry. Foreign tourist numbers amounted to around 13.6 million up to October this year.

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