Riau Islands Need Special Policies To Improve Tourism Sector, Dispar: Our Neighbor Malaysia, Already 'Steal' Momentum

Illustration. (Photo: Doc. Antara)

JAKARTA - Head of the Riau Islands Province Tourism Office (Dispar Kepri) Buralimar said the region needed special policies to improve the performance of the tourism sector in the area.

"The Riau Islands have different characteristics from Bali, Jakarta and Java, so they need special policies to increase foreign tourist visits," said Buralimar in Tanjungpinang City, Riau Islands Province, quoted from Antara, Friday July 1.

He explained that Riau Islands consists of islands, even districts and cities in the region are islands separated by a vast ocean.

The ocean area in Riau Islands reaches 96 percent compared to the mainland, which borders neighboring countries such as Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand and Vietnam. The strategic position of the Riau Islands should be a potential in developing the tourism sector.

The central government's policy should encourage tourists to visit the area.

"In practice, foreign tourists must make it easy for foreign tourists to visit the Riau Islands. If necessary, it is accompanied by a stimulus to increase their attractiveness to visit Batam, Bintan, Karimun, and Tanjungpinang," said Buralimar.

According to him, the Malaysian government has "stealed" the momentum of attracting foreign tourists to the country after the active cases of COVID-19 were under control. Malaysia opens itself to all foreign nationals to visit the country.

"Our neighbors (Malaysia) quickly catch the moment to attract foreign tourists to their country. Meanwhile we are still fiddling with policies so that foreign tourists are not fully attracted to Riau Islands except for important matters," he said.

Buralimar said the tourism sector made a big contribution to the Riau Islands economy before the COVID-19 pandemic. Currently, the tourism sector is creeping up, marked by an increase in the number of foreign tourists to various regions in Riau Islands, especially Batam.

The number of foreign tourists to Riau Islands after the government opened access to international ports and international airports in Batam and Tanjungpinang was around 6 thousand people, still far from the target of the Regional Medium-Term Development Plan in 2022 of 400 thousand people.

Meanwhile, about 60 percent of foreign tourists, continued Buralimar, to Batam, the rest to Bintan, Tanjungpinang and Karimun.

"Today is my last day as head of service and civil servant. I don't know who my successor is yet. I hope my successor will be more creative, innovative, young and intelligent so that they can develop the tourism sector in Riau Islands," said Buralimar.