The Indonesian government is set to develop the first four tourists destinations from the “10 New Balis” development project, according to Coordinating Maritime Affairs Minister Luhut Pandjaitan. The areas include Lake Toba in North Sumatra, Borobudur Temple in Central Java, Labuan Bajo in East Nusa Tenggara and Mandalika in West Nusa Tenggara.
“We will do everything applying an integrated approach, which will help us avoid mistakes. Developing tourism is the fastest way to create employment,” stated Luhut at a press conference in Jakarta, as quoted by The Jakarta Globe.
Luhut identified Lake Toba and Labuan Bajo in particular as two regions with enormous potential as they have managed to attract growing number of tourists despite a lack of development for tourism. For example, Labuan Bajo has had a 300 percent increase in the number of visiting tourists despite struggling with a number of issues such as waste management, clean water supply and roads.
The government, Luhut said, will try to seize the full potential of all four destinations by improving tourism infrastructure. Other destinations include: Tanjung Lesung (Banten), Seribu Islands (Jakarta), Mount Semeru (East Jawa) and Morotai (North Maluku).
For more details on the “10 New Balis” initiative, click here.