Sandiaga Uno Continues To Assist Tourism Villages To Boost The Economy

Sandiaga Uno (Photo via personal Twitter)

JAKARTA - Minister of Tourism and Creative Economy Sandiaga Salahuddin Uno assesses that the Kampung Dayun Tourism Village, Siak Regency, Riau is a complete package to develop tourism. The location of the attraction, namely the Dayun Integrated Embung, was originally a water reserve for forest and land fires.

"This is a tourist village that shows a complete package where this place was originally a reservoir as a source of water for forest fires. But God opened it to become a business opportunity," said Sandiaga Uno, Sunday, August 21.

For the environmental category, according to him, this is very good and extraordinary, what's more, this was also included in the category of underdeveloped villages. Starting from residents taking canoes above the reservoir and then paying Rp. 10 thousand, now it is already crowded with visitors.

The universe, said Sandi, provides blessings with tourism so that employment opportunities are open. People make rides and businesses for souvenirs and food so that they get income.

This dam has been transformed into a tourist location with a "flying fox, shaking bridge", water duck, merry-go-round, and sales outlets. For the vehicle for the financial system, 50 percent is shared equally for the operations of the tourism awareness group and the village (village) treasury.

Governor of Riau, Syamsuar on that occasion said that Siak is a royal city that is included in the treasury of the Indonesian nation. And Dayun Village is a fire prone place because it is surrounded by peat.

"But there is an initiative from the penghulu so that Dayun Village becomes the best Riau Tourism Village in 2021. We hope that we can follow in the footsteps of Koto Masjid Village, Kampar Regency in 2021 which won the second national ranking," he said.

Meanwhile, the Regent of Siak, Alfedri expressed his gratitude that this is the first time that a Menparekraf has come to Siak. There have been seven times the Tour de Siak cycling event, the minister was invited but never came.

"Of course this brings blessings in Siak. Apart from here, there are many other tourist attractions in Siak such as the Emerald Lake, Siak Palace, Dutch Tangsi, and Siak The deepest river. Our vision is to become a tourism destination in Sumatra,l and before COVID-19 there were 160 thousand, I hope there will be more," he said.

In this activity, he also gave a presentation from the Head of Dayun Village, Nasya Nugrik. Also the Chair of the Dayun Village Tourism Awareness Group, Fico Fisuri, conveyed the advantages in the seven categories that were contested.

Meanwhile, Dayun Village, Siak Regency, Riau Province which managed to enter the top 50 of the Indonesian Tourism Village Award in 2022 and received assistance from Bank Central Asia (BCA) for one full year with a nominal value of Rp. 500 million.

This was conveyed during the visit of the Minister of Tourism and Creative Economy of Indonesia, Sandiaga Salahuddin Uno at Embung Terpadu Dayun, Saturday. Sandiaga hopes that this assistance will continue in the future.

"So this is BCA providing assistance, the value of which will certainly be much more in the future. Hopefully it will continue until the Dayun Tourism Village is world class," said Sandi.

He shared that after visiting the outlets of micro, small and medium enterprises, many needed assistance, such as the watermelon culinary business, which is the mainstay of Kamlung Dayun, which requires production assistance.

"Like Mrs. Netti, there is a lot of demand for watermelon, so please help BCA with its production. Apart from BCA, we will also have products that are suitable for the company," he added.

Head of BCA Pekanbaru Branch, Heriyanto said that it was an honor for Dayun Tourism Village to be selected as one of the nominees and finalists to represent Riau. BCA is very supportive and committed to providing one full year of assistance.

"Assistance includes providing information, building facilities and encouraging the promotion of Dayun Village tourism so that it is more widely known, hopefully the assistance activities can be carried out as much as possible. Talking about the nominal value, it is around 500 million for a full year," he said.

Dayun Village has a mainstay of Integrated Embung tourism which was originally a water reserve for forest and land fires. Then it was transformed into a tourist location with "flying fox, shaking bridge", water duck, merry-go-round and sales outlets.

This tourist spot has provided income for the local Village (Village) Government of up to tens or even hundreds of millions a year from the results of the rides provided. The financial system is to share 50 percent equally for the operations of tourism awareness groups and the village treasury.