“We are going to build the homestays while the Tourism Ministry will help promote them. This is a perfect collaboration,” said the Villages, Disadvantaged Regions and Transmigration Ministry’s secretary-general, Anwar Sanusi. 

There are plenty of villages across Indonesia that have the potential to become tourist villages, but there are already 787 marine tourist villages, 576 river tourist villages, 165 irrigation tourist villages and 374 lake tourist villages.

Read also: Insta-famous Kampung Pelangi enters second phase of development

Sanusi said if the funding for next year has been approved and Rp 120 trillion has been allocated to the program, twice the amount for this year. Currently, each village receives Rp 800 million annually from the ministry.

The villagers have the right to determine the use of the funds given to them. However, there needs to be a regulation to oversee it.

“For villages that have tourism potential, they can use the funding to build infrastructure that supports tourism, including homestays,” added Sanusi.

It takes a village to develop a tourist village, which is why the Villages, Disadvantaged Regions and Transmigration Ministry has created a task force that includes the Tourism Ministry and regional heads in several provinces.

Read also: Tips for visiting Komodo National Park

According to Tourism Minister Arief Yahya, the tourist village program can be implemented in the 10 New Bali destinations, “Or it can be implemented in the top 10 most active destinations, such as West Sumatra, West Nusa Tenggara, Nangroe Aceh Darussalam (NAD), Banyuwangi, North Sulawesi and others.” (asw)

Popular

Indonesian islanders lose ground as islets put on sale

Labubu dolls ride China soft-power wave

A democratic reckoning for global development finance