Editor’s Note:Kompas daily organized a bike tour for three days in Central Java. The 336-kilometer tour was organized in collaboration with Bank Jateng. This was part of the effort to explore and promote the potential of the region. The report will be published daily for four days starting Friday (10/3).
Kompas/Gregorius Magnus Finesso
Travelers enjoy the beautiful landscape of Telaga Warna and Telaga Pengilon lakes on Dieng Plateau, Kejajar district, Wonosobo regency, Central Java, on Sunday (1/1). The two lakes are key tourist attractions in the Dieng area, which is located 2,300 meters above sea level. During the 2017 New Year holiday, 700 homestays in the Dieng area were fully booked.
Central Java is blessed with various natural and cultural attractions. Mountain ranges with volcanic soil are fertile ground for the agrarian society’s culture. It is this harmony that is the main tourist attraction in the heart of Java Island.
One morning in early February, William Hoyd, 33, held a monopod taking selfies with Chaterine, 34, with Telaga Warna Lake as the background from the top of Sidengkeng Hill in Dieng. The German pair who had just got married at the end of December greatly enjoyed their honeymoon in the coldness of Dieng.
“We have wanted to come to Indonesia for a long time. Borobudur and Dieng are the main destination. Aside from the beautiful scenery, there are historical tracks from the temples here,” Chaterine said.
They both agreed Dieng has very beautiful nature. The cool air and the friendly local people make them feel at home. However, they complained about the poor access for a world class destination such as Dieng.
The Dieng plateau is part of the tourism complex with complete destination. There are at least 10 resort objects, including those related to nature, religion and history. Central Java Youths, Sports and Tourism Office head Urip Sihanudin said Dieng was one of six tourist destinations being developed in the province.
The five other destinations are Borobudur-Magelang, Solo-Sangiran, Banyumas-Cilacap, Semarang-Karimunjawa and Tegal-Brebes. The six tourism axes are being developed to meet the foreign tourist arrival target of 1.2 million in 2017.
“Central Java is rich in tourist destinations. There are 477 tourist destinations and 147 resort villages in the province. But not all of them have been developed. One issue is the road infrastructure to those tourist areas,” Urip said.
So far,the tourism sector has not been a priority in the budget allocation. Central Java’s youths, sports and tourism budget of Rp 384.6 billion in 2017, for example, sees more than 50 percent of them allocated for sports. Tourism, which includes marketing, development and partnership, gets Rp 13.5 billion.
At the regency/city level, many of those regions have not put tourism as a priority. In fact, data from the Central Java’s Neraca Satelit Pariwisata (a breakdown graphic of tourism data) in 2014 shows that tourism in the province contributes Rp 37.06 trillion to the local economy. This amount contributes to around 5.94 percent to Central Java’s gross regional revenue of Rp 623.75 trillion. The impact on goods and service production is Rp 57.89 trillion. On manpower, tourism opens 1.32 million jobs in Central Java.
Propel the economy
Bank Jateng president director Supriyatno said tourism was proven to be able to propel local economies and that the effect was real. “Micro and small businesses, starting from food, T-shirt, souvenir to handicraft business feel the impact instantly,” he said.
Bank Jateng has an interest in promoting various potential tourism opportunities through numerous activities that draw tourists including channeling credit to resort villages through the village-owned enterprises.
Drawing in tourists is a hard job. Moreover, today selling beautiful scenery is not enough. Other regions also have points of interest that are not less attractive.
The most important thing now is to package the richness and uniqueness of the regions to make them more attractive and promote them broadly through special events that draw many people such as long bike trips, marathons, exhibitions and conferences.
Long biking is part of the specialty tourism. It gains more and more participants. They are not athletes but ordinary residents from the middle class. A big number of foreign tourists come to Indonesia for biking. Indeed, some foreign tourism agencies offer bike touring in Flores, Bali, Lombok, Java, Toba Lake and Sulawesi.
Themed “Weaving the Archipelago”, Kompas daily has since 2008 routinely organized long biking in several regions, from Sabang to Merauke. Bikers were invited to visit many regions to help them know the country.
“It is more satisfying than a tour by car, motorbike or other motorized vehicle,” said Nico Aditya, a biker who lives in Singapore.
This March, Kompas and Bank Jateng organized a biking tour participated by 120 people from several cities. The tour started from Purwokerto to Wonosobo, Borobudur, Magelang and ended in Semarang City.
It is time for all parties to be more serious in developing the potential of Central Java with all of its uniqueness. “We are confident Central Java will be able to make tourism its main economic pillar,” said Joko Suratno, chairman of Central Java’s Indonesian Tourism Agencies Association.
