RI Needs To Develop Marine Tourism: Minister

Jakarta, Sept 20 (Antara) - Deputy Minister of Tourism and Creative Economy Sapta Nirwandar has urged for the development of Indonesia`s marine tourism, which he said has hardly been exploited so far. Tourists were willing to spend a lot on marine tourism destinations, Nirwandar stated here on Friday. "This can boost the economy of local communities," he added. Indonesia`s marine tourism held a lot of potential, which was still unexploited, Nirwandar said. "People`s orientation is still towards land, despite the fact that our country is an archipelago, which is rich in marine resources," he pointed out, adding that a number of Indonesian seas were world-recognized and had beautiful scenery. "In Raja Ampat (Papua), for example, one can see a biota of more than 200 marine species during a single dive," he noted. However, most of the marine tourism operators in Indonesia are foreigners. "Almost 90 percent are foreign operators, and if there are local operators, they join the foreign ones for a 50-50 partnership," he stated. Indonesia has a 92,000 kilometer-long beaches and coastline, second only to Canada. It is one of the world`s largest maritime countries with about 5.8 million square kilometers of marine territory. It is the biggest archipelagic country in the world, with around 70 percent of its territory comprising of water and has 17,480 islands. The country`s seas are also home to one of the most diverse coastal and marine habitats. Indonesia is a member of the Coral Triangle Initiative (CTI), which is part of an area encompassing six nations that also includes the Philippines, Malaysia, Papua New Guinea, Timor Leste and the Solomon Islands. The area is home to 600 coral species, or around 75 percent of the world`s total coral, thus making it a coral reef with the highest bio-diversity in the world. The Coral Triangle is also often called the undersea Amazon Tropical Forest.