Jambi ready to make Visit Indonesia Year success

Jambi province has been preparing local tourist sites and attractions as well as setting up support facilities and infrastructures in its effort to make the Indonesia Visit Year (VIY) 2008 program a success.

Jambi Governor H Zulkifli Nurdin has brought all businesspeople dealing with the tourism sector in the province together calling on them to make concerted efforts to make the Visit Indonesia Year (VIY) and Visit Jambi Year (VJY) programs a success.

The local chapter of the Association of the Indonesian Tours and Travel Agencies (Asita) and the local chapter of the Indonesian Hotel and Restaurant Association (Ihra) had expressed readiness to promote tourist objects both at home and abroad, Zulkifli said.

This year, Jambi will hold various tourist events including the Muorojambi Temple Festival(May 28-June 2), the Batang Merangin Rafting Championship (May 25-30), the Lake Kerinci Festival (July 17-20) and the Jambi Cultural Week (December 10-15), besides organizing a meeting for all Indonesian men of letters.

The local administration has made the Muorojambi Temple as an integrated cultural, historical, scientific, religious, culinary and agro tourism site.

Head of the Jambi Provincial Culture and Tourism Office, Hj Mualimah Radhiana said the two-kilometer square tourist site has 86 small and big temples.

The temple which is the historical heritage of the Sriwijaya Kingdom and the Islam Malay Kingdom in Jambi becomes an icon in the Visit Indonesia Year (VIY) program.

For the Muarojambi Temple Festival, the Jambi provincial administration was focusing on developing rivulets leading to the temple complex.

"We are offering passage on the Batanghari River to the Muarojambi Temple Festival to guests who can enjoy the views along the river," Muallimah said.

In addition to the four events, Jambi was also offering the `Mandi Syafar` event (a traditional bathing ritual usually held in the second Islamic month of Syafar) in March, the Jambi Discount Event in February and the Procession of Sahur (eating before daybreak for fasting) in the Ramadhan fasting month.

Jambi is optimistic that the number of tourists it would attract during the VIY 2008 would increase compared to the previous year when the figure was recorded at 616,000, including 5,000 foreign tourists, she said.

The local administration had also cooperated with the association of representatives for the Indonesian Buddhists (Walubi) to hold the Muorojambi Temple Festival in May or in coinciding with the celebration of Buddha`s birth on May 20.

Besides historical and cultural tourist objects, Jambi will also attract tourists with natural tourist sites like the Kerinci Seblat National Park in Kerinci district.

Kerinci district is one of Jambi`s potential tourist destination as it has interesting natural tourist sites including Lake Kerinci, Lake Gunung Tujuh, Mt. Kerinci, Telun Berasap Waterfalls and hot water bathing places.