Govt declares 10 regions top tourist destinations

The Indonesian government has declared ten regions in the country top tourist destionations in a move to boost the national tourism industry.

"The policy to declare ten regions top tourist destinations will hopefully encourage each of the regions to improve their performance in developing their respective tourism potentials," Wibowo, a deputy drector general at the Culture and Tourism Ministry, said here at the weekend.

The ten regions are North Sulawesi, South Sulawesi, West Nusa Tenggara, East Nusa Tenggara, West Sumatra, North Sumatra, Riau Islands, South Sumatra, East Kalimantan and West Irian Jaya, he said.

"Every year we make an evaluation of the regions to be declared top tourist destinations by taking into account various aspects, namely natural potentials, infrastructure facility and the local people`s way of thinking," he said.

He said Indonesia had 33 tourist destination areas stretching from the country`s western-most province of Nanggroe Aceh Darussalam to the country`s eastern-most province of Papua.

"Of the total, only 16 tourist destinations are able to attract 90 percent of local and foreign tourists, including the ten top tourist destinations," he said.

The 16 tourist destinations are Bandung, Jakarta, Yogyakarta, Batam, Bali, Toba, Karakatau, Tana Toraja, Lombok, Semarang, Java, West Sumatra, Manado, Sangalaki, Komodo and Kupang, he said.

"The figure suggests that there is still a gap among tourist destinations. That`s why there need to be directives and policies to develop the tourist destinations in a concrete way," he said.