Dispar Admits IKN Is A Magnet For East Kalimantan Tourism Visits

Head of Tourism Marketing Division of East Kalimantan Province, Restiawan Baihaqi (Between/M Ghofar)

SAMARINDA - The East Kalimantan Provincial Tourism Office (Dispar) of East Kalimantan stated that the determination of this province to become the capital city of the archipelago (IKN) was able to make a magnet for other residents to come. Automatically this has an impact on increasing domestic tourism travel. "Nationally, the number of domestic tourism trips in the first half of 2023 reached 433.57 million people, an increase of 12.6 percent compared to the same period in 2022," said Head of Tourism Marketing Division of East Kalimantan Province, Restiawan Baihaqi in Samarinda, quoted from Antara, Monday, August 14. Meanwhile, in East Kalimantan, it has increased quite high to reach 73.7 percent. This province is quickly becoming a favorite destination for local tourists due to the rich diversity of wildlife and heavy rain forests. East Kalimantan Province, he said, offers unique opportunities for ecotourism and sees wild animals that are attractive to nature lovers and fans of wildlife, including cultural tourism because almost every district/city in East Kalimantan has its own cultural wealth and uniqueness. In addition, he continued, the IKN magnet is also a special attraction for domestic tourists and foreign tourists, because apart from that they travel business related to IKN, they also travel to a number of tourist attractions. The high increase in travel to East Kalimantan is also because it is active in promoting outside the area, including Bali, Jakarta, a number of areas in Java, and others. In promoting, Dispar Kaltim also prioritizes the Mice system (meetings, incentives, conventions and exhibitions), so that through this pattern many are interested, which in the end tourist visits to East Kalimantan increase. "We continue to carry out Mice activities as a boost to the development of tourism destinations, because it is realized that this pattern is also able to create jobs, increase income for local communities, including to encourage the entry of investment," he said.

He also believes that on August 17, more and more tourists will enter East Kalimantan, both domestic and foreign tourists, because many interesting activities are held by the community in urban and rural areas in enlivening the 78th Anniversary of Indonesian Independence.