Tourism Ministry Develops Tourism Destinations in Papua

Jakarta, InfoPublik – A coordination and synchronization meeting on Papua and West Papua tourism destinations development held on 27-29 March concluded Tourism Ministry’s great concern on the matter.

"This meeting provides a full understanding of destinations development by using the tourism Special Allocation Fund (DAK), including both physical and non-physical DAK for all Government tourism offices in Papua and West Papua. Therefore, we expect a maximum absorbance of tourism DAK can be achieved in the development of tourism destinations in Papua," said Deputy Assistant for Regional III Destination Development, Harwan Ekocahyo Wirasto, in an official statement received by InfoPubblik, Sunday (3/31).

Tourism Ministry presented National Development Planning Agency’s (Bappenas) deputy director for Creative Economy Wahyu Wijayanto as one of the speakers in the meeting. He explained the Policy Direction for Tourism Physical and Non-Physical DAK in the Fiscal Year 2019/2020. Also presented as speaker was Tourism Ministry’s Monitoring and Evaluation subdivision head Edy Yunianto. He gave presentation on Reporting Mechanism for Physical and Non-Physical DAK works in Fiscal Year 2019/2020.

According to Wirasto, the meeting is expected to bring all participants to have one voice in maximizing tourism DAK, especially realizing the magnitude of tourism potential in Papua, in order to implement tourism destination development.

"In addition to physical development, we also have to consider non-physical development such as HR development. Lack of competent human resources will hamper the (infrastructure) development," Wirasto added.

Meanwhile, Tourism ministry Region IV Destination Development Division Head Kamal Rimosan said that so far, the tourism DAK had not been absorbed maximally by Tourism Offices in the regions, often caused by incomplete submission of tourism DAK administration requirements by regional tourism offices to central government.

"Yes, we want all regencies and cities to absorb tourism DAK, so that the acceleration of tourism destinations development in Papua can be achieved soon. We expect that all local government will be well prepared in proposing Tourism DAK next year. We urge local government to consult Tourism Ministry when needed," said Kamal.

Tourism Minister Arief Yahya welcomed the organization of the meeting. So far, tourism sector development in Indonesian regions has been pretty good. However, improvement is still needed. We keep pushing the achievement to reach fantastic numbers.

“Eastern part of Indonesia has extraordinary potential. We must keep developing it so that it will produce maximum results. Remember, victory must be planned. If we want to succeed, we should plan perfectly. Success is waiting around the corner," said Minister Arief Yahya. (Reporter: Untung S., Translator: Wilda Stiana)