S Sulawesi To Promote Cultural Tourism To Attract Foreign Visitors

Makassar, S Sulawesi, Sept 2 (Antara) - The South Sulawesi cultural and tourism office will promote cultural tourism to attract foreign tourists to visit the province. "Cultural tourism is specific and cannot be replicated by other regions. Cultural attractions existing in South Sulawesi cannot be found in other parts of the world. So, we will promote this," Head of the South Sulawesi cultural and tourism office Jufri Rahman stated here on Tuesday. South Sulawesi is keen to help the Jokowi administration to achieve its target of receiving 20 million foreign tourists within the next five years, he asserted. "The 20 million-tourist target is very achievable because the number of new rich people is increasing. They usually like to travel abroad, and it should be our big opportunity," Jufri pointed out. South Sulawesi province will offer unique and varied cultural attractions to foreign tourists, he noted. The local tourism office is currently formulating several strategies to develop cultural tourism, which will cover coastal, hinterland, and highland areas. "So, we will maintain highland Tana Toraja, but we will also develop the coastal areas such as some isles in Liukang sub-district, Pangkep district," he explained. Singapore, Malaysia, and Brunei Darussalam will be the main areas where South Sulawesi`s cultural tourism will be marketed, he pointed out. "Many inhabitants of those countries believe that their ancestors were from Bugis Makassar, South Sulawesi, and so they are interested in tracing their roots in South Sulawesi," he remarked. The province, however, needs the assistance of the central government to develop infrastructure and promote the province to achieve the goal, he stated. Meanwhile, President-elect Joko "Jokowi" Widodo recently noted that Indonesia wanted tourists to see beyond Jakarta and Bali. He called for greater efforts to promote the lesser-known areas such as Sumba, an island in eastern Indonesia, and Raja Ampat, an archipelago of over 1.5 thousand islands on the northwest tip of the main island of New Guinea in the country`s west Papua province.