Government Builds Museum To Prepare Borobudur Spiritual Tourism

Borobudur Temple/Dok ANTARA

JAKARTA - President Joko Widodo instructed ministers regarding the construction of the Borobudur museum and the preparation of a special worship place that became a spiritual tourist for Borobudur Temple, Magelang, Central Java.

Minister of Public Works and Public Housing Basuki Hadimuljono said the arrangement of the super priority tourist destination of Borobudur Temple was discussed in a limited meeting chaired by President Joko Widodo at the State Palace, Jakarta, Tuesday, June 13.

"The construction of the museum, so maybe tourists don't have to go up to Borobudur, you can see from the museum first," Basuki said as quoted by ANTARA.

Basuki said a number of infrastructures were built to support Borobudur to become super priority tourist destinations, such as bridges, and pedestrian paths or "boardwalks".

The Kujon Art Market will also be arranged by changing the physical from two floors to just one floor so as not to block the view of Borobudur Temple.

Then, in order to support cleanliness in tourist attractions, the Magelang Regency Government has also prepared an area of eight hectares to build a final disposal site (TPA).

The government also targets that all revitalizations and infrastructure development supporting super priority Borobudur tourism can be completed by 2024.

"We will do the 'boardwalk' and (market) kujon soon and hopefully it will be completed this year. The museum because it is big, maybe we start this year but it will be finished in 2024," said Basuki.

In addition, President Jokowi also ordered a place of worship that would become a spiritual tourism for Buddhists in Indonesia and Southeast Asia.

Minister of Tourism and Creative Economy Sandiaga Uno said this spiritual tourism has great potential to attract 42 percent of Southeast Asian people who are Buddhist and a total of 600 million Buddhists in the world.

"This is a tremendous potential to give them the opportunity to worship at Borobudur Temple," said Sandiaga.