Antara News, by Bustanuddin, Monday, February 8, 2010 11:07 WIB Jakarta (ANTARA News) - The international marine event Sail Banda which will take place in Ambon city, Maluku`s provincial capital in July to August 2010 is expected to attract thousands of foreign tourists.
In efforts to attract around 6,000 tourists to the province, Sail Indonesia featuring the beauty of Maluku Province`s Banda Islands, the local administration would spend at least Rp40 billion to prepare the international event.
The estimated cost was disclosed by Director General of Marine Resources and Fishery Surveillance Aji Sularso at the launching of "Sail Indonesia-Sail Banda" here last Wednesday.
The funds came from Maluku`s provinccial budget and from the marine and fishery ministry and coordinating ministry for social welfare, he said, adding the funds totaling Rp12 billion (US$1=Rp9,420) that the Maluku government had pledged would be used to build the needed facilities.
According to him, the marine and fishery ministry, and the coordinating ministry for social welfare had respectively allocated Rp9.5 billion and more than Rp20 billion to support the various events and social activities involving the local people, and for providing fuel to Indonesian navy`s hospital ship, KRI Dr.Suharso, he said.
Meanwhile Marine and Fishery Minister Fadel Muhammad said Sail Banda was aimed at making Ambon city eastern Indonesia`s main tourist gate and promoting the province`s potentials to the world.
The annual event was also expected to attract foreign investors, including from China, said Muhammad, who is also chairman of the Sail Banda national committee.
"Providing people in the coastal areas with medical services is also the objective of Sail Banda. That`s why, the social welfare minister will come to the targeted areas," he said.
Sharing Muhammad`s views, Coordinating Minister for People`s Welfare Agung Laksono said Sail Banda was also expected to boost eastern Indonesia`s economic development.
"By promoting the natural, cultural and historical heritages that the areas have, we boost the growth of the tourism industry in eastern Indonesia," he said.
In the meantime, Sail Indonesia-Sail Banda committee`s official website said that more than 220 updated brochures had been sent to all the yachts, which had been interested in joining the event.
In 2009, Sail Indonesia-Sail Bunaken in North Sulawesi province was participated in by 133 yachts from dozens of other countries from around the world.
Over the past years, the participating international yachts started sailing to Indonesian waters from Darwin, capital of Australian state of Northern Territory.
This year, as explained in the committee`s official website, the first destination was Banda, 500 miles north of Darwin to participate in a series of events that would be held in Maluku and its capital city of Ambon.
The participating skippers are scheduled to leave Darwin on July 24 at 11 am for Banda Sail. They are welcomed with cultural festivals at the different stopovers across Indonesia on the islands of Timor, Banda, Ambon, Buton, Lembata, Wakatobi, Flores, Sulawesi, Bali, Java, Borneo, Belitung and finally Batam or Bintan islands just south of Singapore.
The peak event of Sail Banda is scheduled on August 3. Banda is famous for the beauty and richness of its deep sea, cultural heritage and historical remains.
In the meantime, Army chief of staff, Gen George Toisutta said the army is set to make a success of Sail Banda as the event is the responsibility of the entire nation.
"This is a national program of international level, so that the Army is also responsible for its success in Maluku," he said in Ambon recently.
Meanwhile, Maluku Culture and Tourism office spokesperson, Florence Sahusilawane said on Thursday that accommodation and human resources should be a top priority to lure large numbers of foreign tourists.
"Human resources is on top of our priority and since October last year we have been familiarizing the people to the remotest villages across the province with the event," Sahusilawane said.
Regarding accommodation such as hotels and inns, Sahusilawane said around 2,700 rooms had been prepared at both star-rated and ordinary ones.
"We will also prepare houses for home stay to anticipate the inability of hotels and inns to accommodate all the tourists," Sahusilawane said, adding that tourist guides involving university students would also be trained in the near future.
"At least 40 students of university and tourism schools will be trained as tour guides but their number is still insufficient for around 6,000 tourists who will be coming to Maluku," she added.
To provide the tourists with tour packages, Maluku Culture and Tourism office will also cooperate with the Association of Indonesian Tour and Travel Agencies (Asita), Indonesian Hotels and Restaurants Association (PHRI), and the Indonesian Tourist Guides Association (HPI).
"We will also prepare special facilities at hotels and other such accommodations for vendors to sell typical souvenirs from Maluku, because Sail Banda 2010 is a good opportunity for us to introduce typical products from the province to the tourists," Sahusilawane said.
Florence was also optimistic about the promotion of Sail Banda in Europe because the Maluku Museum director in the Netherlands, Dr Huib Akihary, had expressed readiness to help promote the event in European countries.
Apart from that, Bank Indonesia (the central bank) of Ambon branch is to open money changing counters and ATM booths in Banda to support the international marine event.
"Bank Indonesia and a number of other banks such as Bank BRI, Bank Central Asia (BCA), and Bank BNI will also provide services for financial transactions in Banda to support the event," spokesman for the Ambon branch of Bank Indonesia Totok Hermianto said in Ambon on Monday.
Totok said that he had discussed the event with the leaders of the banks operating in Ambon and they agreed to open banking service counters in Banda.
"Foreign tourists visiting Banda, as well as the participants of Sail Banda 2010 will find it easy to make financial transactions following the opening of the banking service counters in Banda during the international event," Totok said.
He expressed hope that the promotion of Sail Banda 2010 would be intensified in order to have a good impact on the Maluku economic development.
Meanwhile, Transportation Ministry Air Transportation director general Herry Bakti said his office was ready to support the Sail Banda 2010.
"In principle, the Transportation Directorate General is ready to support the event," he has said in Bandaneira, Banda, Maluku.
The most important thing is to prepare reliable telephone and Internet infrastructure, and this can facilitate communication and telecommunication so that people would not all have to gather in Ambon if they want to promote Banda," he said.
The national shipping company PT Pelni is also ready to help make the Sail Banda a success by sending more ships there.
Bachtiar, head of PT Pelni`s Ambon branch office, said in Ambon that the national shipping company felt it was also its moral responsibility to support the international event.
Meanwhile, General Manager of state-owned airport managing company, PT Angkasa Pura I of Pattimura airport branch office, Gerits Mailesun said that several airline companies such as Lion Air, Batavia, Sriwijaya and Wings have expressed readiness to provide excellent services to the participants of the international maritime events which will involve an estimated 5,000 people.
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