REPUBLIKA.CO.ID, JAKARTA -- A South African travel bureau said it would prepared a tour package for African tourists to visit Kalimantan after familiarization trip to Tanjung Puting, Central Kalimantan last week.

Assistant to deputy for European, American, Middle East and African marketing of the tourism ministry Nia Niscaya said the ministry has intensified promotion of Indonesian tourism objects in Africa.

Africa is a potential market not yet sufficiently exploited, Nia said here on Sunday.

Recently the tourism ministry invited 18 South African travel bureaus to have a tour of Java and Kalimantan in the program of familiarization trip (Famtrip).

Famtrip is a routine program of the tourism ministry to introduce the country's tourism objects to foreign travel bureaus including hotel operators, travel agents and journalists.

Shona May Pittaway, for example, chose Kalimantan as its destination.

Shona May Pittaway, which is one of the largest travel operators in South Africa with a network of 147 agents would bring tourists from Africa to Tanjung Puting.

"Africans like natural beauty including green jungles as forests in Africa are dry and hot," Nia said.

The Africans enjoyed seeing orangutans, rare animals, which are found many Kalimantan, she said.

So far African tourists know only Bali as tourist destination in Indonesia.

Based on data at the tourism ministry in 2012, there were 37,306 African tourists visiting Indonesia , up to 42,607 in 2014 and to 45,276 in 2015.

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