High interest among Singaporeans in visiting Kerinci region

Singaporean tourists show high interest in visiting Indonesia`s Jambi province, especially Kerinci district as its main tourist destination, the province`s deputy governor said.

However, Singaporean holiday makers had still asked about transportation means at a recent event to promote Kerinci, Jambi Deputy Governor Antony Zeidra Abidin said here Saturday.

The number of foreign tourists visiting Kerinci was still small due to inadequate access to the district, he said, adding that foreign tourists came to Kerinci usually through Padang, West Sumatra (some 200 kilometers from Kerinci).

In an effort to increase the number of foreign tourists to Jambi, the provincial administration was planning to cooperate with tour and travel operators who were expected to help promote tourist objects in Kerinci.

Singapore was expected to be Jambi`s main tourism market as the island state`s geographic location was relatively close to the province, he said.

Thus, Jambi`s provincial administration was encouraging Kerinci`s district administration to continue developing natural tourist sites like Lake Kerinci, Mount Kerinci, Lake Gunung Tujuh, the Semurup baths and the Telun Berasap Kayu Aro waterfall.

The district administration was also expected to soon complete work to extend the runway of Kerinci district`s Depati Parbo airport from 1,400 meters to 1,700 meters so that it could also accommodate wide-body aircraft.

The Kerinci district administration would begin operating the airport in 2008. Riau Airlines was expected to conduct direct flights from Kerinci to Singapore vice versa, he said.

In support of the land transportation system, the district administration had allocated billions of rupiahs to construct a by-pass road from Jambi City to Kerinci among other things.

The 419-kilometer trip from Jambi City to Kerinci now takes between 10 hours and 11 hours on winding roads through the Kerinci Seblat National Park.