Indonesia took in a total 8.7 million foreign tourists in 2013, and this year it aims to attract 9.2 million international tourists. (AFP Photo/Conservation International/Sterling Zumbrunn)
Jakarta. Sampoerna Group, a diversified holdings company, and event organizer Dyandra Media International are conducting a feasibility study for a resort in Raja Ampat, an ecotourism haven in West Papua, a government official said over the weekend.
Sudirman Saad, a director general at the Maritime Affairs and Fisheries Ministry, said Dyandra’s Santika chain of hotels was working with Sampoerna on building a hotel, villas and resort facilities in the area, a highly regarded diving site renowned for its rich underwater biodiversity.
Boyke Mohammad, the chairman and chief executive of Bofa Mitra, a company affiliated to Sampoerna, said the project development would likely involve foreign partners, as the work would not only cover building a resort, but also preserving marine biodiversity, the main attraction of the Raja Ampat archipelago.
Boyke said that according to the group’s master plan, an integrated development project may require to Rp 1 trillion ($86 million) in investment.
He said the potential foreign investors had called on the government to provide certainty for their investment, including pressing for the local government to make the Sail Raja Ampat regatta an annual international event.
The success of the event, which sets sail next month, will underscore investor confidence in Indonesia’s tourism industry, Boyke said.
“Even though the government plans to launch the Sail Raja Ampat event, the regulations related to investment [in the area] remains unclear. The land price keeps skyrocketing. It is not certainty that has been created, but rather, those events merely become just ceremonial,” Boyke said.
Sail Raja Ampat is endorsed by the government to promote tourism, investment as well as development in the Papua region, on of the least-developed parts of the country.
The event, which will kicked off at Waisai Torang Cinta Beach in West Papua on June 21, is expected to attract participants from 18 countries, including potential investors in the tourism industry, travel agents and tourism promotion officials, and representatives from maritime-related institutions.
The regatta is part of the Sail Indonesia series, which each year highlights the tourism potential of various regions in the country. Last year’s regatta was Sail Komodo, and previous editions have focused on Wakatobi in Southeast Sulawesi; Bangka-Belitung off southeast Sumatra; Bunaken in North Sulawesi; and the Banda Islands in the Malukus.
Sampoerna has business interests in finance, telecommunications, agriculture and property, while Dyandra is the exhibition and hotel operator arm of the Kompas Gramedia group.
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