REPUBLIKA.CO.ID, KUPANG -- The East Nusa Tenggara (NTT) provincial government continues to develop infrastructure such as roads, bridges, and public medical facilities in some tourism sites to support the "Wonderful Indonesia" (Wordernesia) tourism campaign.
"Improving accessibility to several attractive sites is the focus to attracting tourists," NTT Provincial Acting Head of Tourism and Creative Economy Welly Rohi Mone noted here on Wednesday.
Despite aggressive promotion, the government will also focus on developing infrastructure, facilities, and the capability of its human resources in addition to overcoming budget constraints.
He pointed out that air transportation services in Kupang were currently quite good despite the limited capacity of aircraft operating between regencies.
"Large-capacity aircraft only operate from Jakarta, Surabaya, and Denpasar," Mone stated.
To accommodate tourists keen on travelling to NTT, Mone has coordinated with some stakeholders, including airline companies, to increase the number of flights or to provide bigger aircraft.
The local government is also working on expanding several airports in NTT.
"There are 14 airports in NTT, and we need to accelerate the expansion of their runways to support tourism development," he explained.
Taking into account the limitation in the regional budget (APBD) and the lack of well-developed corporations in NTT, the provincial government is expecting support from the central government.
Through all programs and efforts being carried out to support local tourism, the local government has ensured that they can reach the target of 880 thousand tourist arrivals in NTT in 2016.
"Since the implementation of the free-visa policy for 94 countries, we are optimistic that it would be one of the strategies to boost the tourism sector in NTT and to increase the number of foreign tourist arrivals," Mone stated.
Two locations in NTT that are frequented by local and foreign tourists are the Komodo Island in Manggarai Barat regency and Kelimutu Lake in Ende regency.
Moreover, tourists are also invited to enjoy the "Sasando" traditional musical performance in Rote Ndao regency and "Pasola" cultural attraction in Sumba regency.
There are several tourism potentials that need to be developed such as the 17 Riung Islands in Ngada regency, Bena traditional village in Bajawa regency, Wae Rebo in Manggarai regency, and Samana Santa in Larantuka, East Flores regency.
NTT has some beautiful beaches such as Alor, Lembata, Adonara, Maumere, and Labuan Bajo, which also need to be managed optimally to be developed into international tourist destinations.
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