edition january 2015

Vol. X January 2015

Batu Bolong Beach

LombokPhoto by Bobo Tandiono

Making Investment Permit Acquirement Easier in Eastern Indonesia

Since Jokowi inaugurated as president on Oc-tober 2014, people in eastern areas of Indonesia put much hope that he will increase development in eastern Indonesia. They expect areas in East-ern Indonesia to develop just like areas in western Indonesia. It seems that there is a chance for the dream to come true and this has grown the opti-mism considering that a number of policies made directed to eastern Indonesia.

The sector that can be the target is tourism sec-tor, which is quite promising in Eastern Indonesia. Various cooperation for investment is encouraged

by inviting investors from different countries including America. As part of an at-tempt to provide mutual benefit from cooperation, the Indonesian government will provide easier process for investment permit acquirement as well as the visit of American citizens to Indonesia.

Previously, Coordinating Minister for Maritime Affairs Indroyono Soesilo asks the USA government to help Indonesia, especially in the development of maritime sec-tor. This request is positively responded by American Ambassador for Indonesia Robert O Blake. Blake said that American government including President Obama fully support the maritime program proposed by Indonesian government under President Joko Widodo leadership. For the support given, Indonesian government promises to make the permit acquirement process easier.

“We make the process easier under one roof and only takes one day through online system,” said Indroyono. He also encourages tourists from America to travel more to Indonesia. “US’s cruise ship can enter Indonesia,” he said.

Indroyono added that there are a lot of marine tourisms in Indonesia, especially nowadays when air transport is easier to access. Let’s visit Indonesia!

Igo Kleden

DIREKTUR Igo Kleden [email protected]

EDITOR

Tri Wibowo

[email protected]

MARKETING MANAGER

Dewi Antini

[email protected]

PHOTOCONTRIBUTOR Sonny Tumbelaka

Bobo Tandiono

REPORTER Erwin Gumilar (Jakarta) Komang Wahyuni, Wiss Kedang, Dona Trihapsari FINANCE & Yuni ArianiACCOUNTING

TRANSLATOR Indira Sari Paputungan

GRAPHIC DESIGN Yudick Ariant

DISTRIBUTOR Donny Sakura

CONTRIBUTOR Christovao Vinhas Cok Dewi Modestus Suharman Hubertus Samsi

www.paradiso.co.id

www.paradiso.co.id PT. Travindo Jaya

Jl. Batas Dukuh Sari Gg Curik no. 11 Denpasar - Bali - Indonesia 80222

Phone : 0361 - 8959507 Fax: +62 361 8474102Hp. 081338306900 w up : 081238711251

email : [email protected]

Bank Account : 097001023164531Bank BRI Cab. Sesetan - Denpasar

Editor’s Note

Thanks To :

DISTRIBUTIONDOMESTIC: BALI - Kuta, Ngurah Rai Airport, Nusa Dua, Sanur, Denpasar and Ubud Area. JAKARTA - Tri Wibowo Hp. 081236044326. SURABAYA - Jl.Jend.Basuki Rahmat 129-137, Surabaya 60271. YOGYAKARTA - Jl.Rumah Makan Gudeg 60 Citro, Laksda Adisucipto Km 9, Yogyakarta 55281, LOMBOK - Jl. Adi Sucipto No. 43, Ampenan - Lombok 83234 KUPANG - Jl. Walikota Kupang 13 SUMBA BARAT - Jl. Sudirman No. 5 Waikabubak - Sumba Barat. SUMBA TIMUR - Jl. Eltari No. 41 Matawai - Sumba Timur, LABUAN BAJO - Martin Meotoda, Ph. 081338151744

OvERSEAS: MALAYSIA - maxiINFO, 32-3-1, Jalan Medan Putra 4 Medan Putra Business Centre. Off Jalan Damansara, 52200 Kuala Lumpur. AUSTRALIA - 262 Wardel rd, Dulwich Hill-Sydney – NSW – 2203. Australia. THAILAND - 94/23 Wichitsongkram Rd. Kathu, Phuket 83120, WASHINGTON DC - 19233 - Wheat-field Terrace - Gaitthersburg, MD 20879. CANADA - 152, rue Notre-Dame est, 8 etage, Montreal, Qc, Canada H2Y 3p6. NETHERLAND - Vrijburglaan 72051 LA Overveen +31 235253619. ITALY - Viale Regina Margherita 270 - 00198, Rome, FRANCE - Europasia Commercial Agency, 15, rue Vallete 75005, Paris. GER-MANY - Hattersheimerstr, 19, Frankfurt 60326. CZECH REPUBLIC - Na Zamecke 6/409 140 000 Prague Czech Republic, CUBA - Hotel Sevilla, Trocadero y Zuleta y Prado, 55, La Habana, Ph./Fax. +53 07 8669767. SLOVENIA - Kompas D.D, Prazakova 4, 1514, Ljubyana, Slovenia. CZECH REPUBLIC - Mr. Miroslav Rada-kovic, Na Zamecke 6/409 140 000 Prague Czech Republic, Ph. +420 261219316 - 19, Fax. +261 219320. CUBA - Viaggi del mappamondo - Cuba, c/o Hotel Sevilla, Trocadero y Zuleta y Prado, 55, La Habana, Ph./Fax. +53 07 8669767. SLOVENIA - Miss. Polona Pirnat, c/o Kompas D.D, Prazakova 4, 1514, Ljubyana, Slovenia.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Conten8 | Focus

Optimistic to reach 20 million foreign tourists

10| Focus

Garuda Now Serves Direct Flight Denpasar – Beijing

12 | News

Optimistic to achieve the target of 9.3 million foreign tourist arrival

15 | News

ASITA: AirAsia Plane Crash Doesn’t Affect Tourism Sector

17 | News

Indonesia to Build 7 Cruise Ship Ports

20 | NTT

Lamalera People Should Maintain Whale-Hunting Tradition

22 | NTT

No One Can Prohibit Whale-Catching in Lamalera

24 | Ende

LOKA LOLO CEREMONY

33 | Event & Destinaition

Strengthening Promotion, Tourism Minister Launches 7 E-Tourism Products


Promoting Alor, NTT to Launch book “Alor Underwater”


Tanjung Lesung Tourism isGrowing


Making Indonesia into World Culinary Tourism Destination

42 | Executive

Recommended Family Hotel in Bali

48 | Bali

The St. Regis Bali Resort and Kayuputi Recognizedat the TripAdvisor® Traveler’s Choice Award

8 | Paradiso January, 2015

Focus

Up to October 2014, in accordance to data from Central Bureau of Statistics (BPS) the

number of foreign tourist visiting Indonesia had reached 7,755,616 people or increased by 8.7% compared to the same period in 2013. The number continues increasing along with the optimism of the government to attract 20 million foreign tourists in 2019.

Foreign tourist arrival was predicted to reach more than 9 million people by the end of December 2014 while domestic tourist arrival to reach 250 million people. Indonesia’s tourism competitiveness in accordance to the World Economic Forum (WEF) ranks 70th in the world.

Minister of Tourism, Arief Yahya explains that tourism’s achievement in the field of economy in 2014 included tourism’s contribution to the national

income as much as 4.01%. Income earned from tourism sector reached US$ 10.69.

“The number of labor working in the field of tourism is 10.3 million people and tourism competitiveness of Indo-nesia in 2013 ranked 70th in the world in accordance to the World Economic Forum (WEF),” said Arief Yahya in the end of year press conference in Jakarta recently.

Minister also mentioned the target for 2015 is to attract 10 million foreign tourists, 254 million domestic tourists, US$ 12.05 foreign exchange earning, IDR 201.5 trillion spending of domestic tourists and increasing number of labor in the field of tourism up to 11.3 million.

Arief Yahya explained further that in order to reach the target of 20 million foreign tourists in 2019, a number of efforts should be performed that include the improvement of tourism infrastructure, Information and Com-munication Technology (ICT), health and hygiene, accessibility (i.e. con-nectivity, seat capacity and direct flight) and regulations.

According to Arief, the power of In-donesian tourism lies on three aspects, namely nature, culture and manmade. “Those three aspects are going to be developed into main tourism products proportionally,” said Arief.

The attempt of Indonesia to attract 20 million foreign tourists is not easy. In terms of number some people consider it not a big number as based on the latest data from the Pacific Asia Travel Association (PATA) – Asia Pacific Arrival Forecasts 2014-2015 – Thai-land’s foreign tourist arrival is as many as 26.5 people. 2013’s report also shows that Malaysia recorded 26.3 million foreign tourist arrivals and 15.6

million people for Singapore. Now is the right moment to increase

tourism in Indonesia. South East Asian areas in the period of 2005 – 2012 experienced the highest growth of foreign tourist arrival in the world, which is 8.3%, far above the growth of global tourism that only reached 3.6%. In 2013, the growth of foreign tourist in ASEAN reached 12%. Considering the positive growth of interest of the global community to travel to ASEAN countries, Indonesia should be in the front line so that foreign tourists are interested to come.

According to the Center of Data and Information Ministry of Tourism, in 2013 there were five top tourism prod-ucts that contributed to foreign tourist arrival, namely: shopping and culinary tourism (80%), religious and heritage tourism (80%), marine tourism (35%), MICE (25%) and sport tourism (5%).

“Simplifying Entry Permit for Foreign Tourists”

Arief explained that in an attempt to reach the target of foreign tourist arrival, entry permit bureaucracy for foreign tourists should be fast and easier. “Entry permit for tourist, espe-cially yacht, should be completed within one day and not for weeks. We should provide easier access to get the permit through online service,” he said.

Immigration affairs should also be done well. Arief Yahya said that if the immigration process can be done in the closest place, it will be more ef-fective and efficient. Foreign tourists entering Indonesia by yacht or cruise

Optimistic to reach

20 millionforeign tourists

Arief Yahya


Focus

ship should be provided with simpler customs process.

The increase in the number of yachter entering Indonesia is signifi-cant to the development of marine tourism. Thus, the government is go-ing to simplify the Clearance Approval for Indonesian Territory (CAIT). The plan has been approved by president and effective in 2015. “CAIT for yacht has been approved and signed by the president,” Arief said.

Arief explained that there are four points in the revision of presidential decree related to the coming of foreign yacht to Indonesia. Those points include CAIT, customs affairs, immigration and port. Entry permit process that used to take three weeks is going to be shortened to one day.

Indonesia as a maritime country has many entrances. Therefore,

Indonesia’s tourism in the future will not merely focus on airlines to attract tourists. Yacht and cruise ship have the potential to attract tourist to visit Indonesia.

“Minister of Tourism’s Achievement “

“20 million foreign tourist arrivals is the target from President and not from Minister of Tourism. It is the task that should be fulfilled by the minister of tourism,” said Arief Yahya. He is optimistic to surpass the target by strengthening cooperation between the central government, private sec-

tors and the local government. They should support each other and create synergy to reach the target.

Although relatively new in the position, Arief Yahya has done various efforts to improve tourism sector and promote creative economy in Indonesia.

A number of programs that have been carried out by Aried Yahya are the provision of free visa to certain countries, the launching of Wonderful Indonesia branding, creating seven E-tourism products, attracting tourism investment through Indonesia Invest-ment Day, National Tourism Culinary Week, Indonesia travel blogger cooperation, Jakarta Digital Valley, the award of creative product recycling, digital photo bank and Indonesian Film Festival. (bowo)


Focus

Garuda Indonesia on Tuesday (13/01/2015) officially opened its new route Beijing – Denpasar

(return). The opening of the new route is part of the attempt to strangthen the flight service, especially in Asia Pacific region.

The opening was attended by Tour-ism Minister Arief Yahya, Vice Governor of Bali I Ketut Sudikerta and President Director of Garuda Indonesia M. Arif Wibowo at the arrival gate Ngurah Rai International Airport, Denpasar, Bali.

M. Arif Wibowo said that the opening of Beijing – Denpasar route is part of the Garuda’s attempt to continue expanding its flight network internation-

ally, especially to China. “China is currently one of the im-

portant markets for Garuda with tourist potentials reaching 100 million people. Considering the potential, China is one of the areas that becomes the focus of Garuda’s network expansion,” said Arif Widodo.

Garuda Indonesia serves Beijing – Denpasar route three times a week every Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday. GA 893 departs from Beijing at 06.30 LT and arrives in Denpasar at 13.50 WITA.

GA 892 departs from Denpasar at 21.45 WITA and arrives in Beijing on the next day at 05.00 LT. Special on Fri-

day, GA 892 is served from Denpasar at 23.45 WITA and arrives in Beijing at 06.30. On Saturday, GA 893 departs from Beijing at 08.50 LT and arrives in Denpasar at 16.10 WITA.

The flights are served using Airbus A330-200 with the capacity of 222 passengers and the seat configuration consists of 36 business seats and 186 economy seats.

With this new route, Garuda Indo-nesia now serves direct flight from and to Beijing seven times per week from Denpasar and Jakarta. Besides Beijing, Garuda Indonesia also serves other flight routes to China, which are Shanghai and Guangzhou.

Garuda Now Serves Direct Flight Denpasar – Beijing

M. Arif Wibowo


Focus

“Boosting the target of 2 million Chinese tourists”

On the same occasion, Tourism Minister Arief Yahya welcomes positively the open-ing of Garuda’s Beijing-Denpasar flight. He hopes that can increase the number of tourist arrival from China.

Tourism Ministry is targeting 2 million tourist arrivals from China in 2015. “The opening of Beijing – Denpasar route is expected to boost the number of tourist arrival from China to Indonesia and Bali in particular as well as to promote beyond Bali destinations such as Lombok, Manado and many more,” said Arief.

According to Arief, Bali is the main tourist destination in Indonesia and China has the biggest number of outbond tourists in the world. Besides that, considering the component of tourist destinations, Bali has three supporting factors, namely nature’s beauty, supporting infrastructure facilities and tourist access facilities.

Vice governor of Bali I Ketut Sudikerta also welcomes the arrival of passengers of Garuda’s premier direct flight of Denpasar – Beijing.

“The direct flight is expected to boost foreign tourist visit, especially from China to Bali. The opening of the new route is believed to improve the creative economy of people in Bali,” said Sudikerta.

Garuda Indonesia also applies flight service by having Chinese flight attendant in order to make the communication easier when passengers need help or service dur-

ing their flight. The expansion of China’s market is

done by opening charter flight from cities in China such as Chengdu, Chong Qin, Ningbo, Kunming, Junan, Harbin, Xian, Shenyang and Chengzhou to Denpasar and Manado in February or July 2015.

“Free Visa for Chinese tourists”

The plan to give free visa to tourists from five countries, including China, is still under discussion between Indonesia and the respective countries,” said Tourism Minister Arief Yahya.

He said that previously Tourism Ministry has had dicussion with Chinese Ambas-

sador for Indonesia Xie Feng related to the provision of free visa.

In line with the discussion, Tourism Min-istry has also prepared a number of ways to promote Indonesia through digital media or online media such as via mobile apps, digital campaign, interactive campaign and viral marketing (i.e. Facebook, twitter, youtube, blogg).

“Promotion through social media can also be done via social media commonly used in China such as Weibo,” he said.

Especially for Chinese tourists, Tourism Ministry has prepared two types histori-cal tourism packages, namely tracing the tracks of Admiral Cheng Ho from Sumatra Island to Java and retracing the attendance of Minister of Foreign Affairs Cho En Lai in the Asia Africa Conference in Bandung in 1955.

“The attempt to attract tourists from China continues to be done, especially we’ve agreed to increase the number of tourist visit from China to 2 million people in 2015,” said Arief. The provision of free visa for Chinese tourists is expected to help the achievement of target.

Arief said that in the period of January – November 2014 tourist arrival from China to Indonesia reached as many as 883,725 people. It comes fourth after Singapore (1.32 million), Malaysia (1.12 million) and Australia (996,032). “From 19 countries that become the focus of Indonesian tourism, China is one of the main markets besides Australia, Japan, Korea and Russia,” he said. (bowo)


News

Although the number of foreign tourist arrival in November 2014 decreased by -5.32% compared

to the same period in 2013. However, government is optimistic that the target of 9.3 million foreign tourist arrivals can be reached.

Data from the Center of Data and Information and Center Bureau of Statistics show that in November 2014 the number of foreign tourist visit to Indonesia was as many as 764,461 people or decreased by -5.32% compared to the same period last year, which was 807,422 tourists. Cumula-tively, foreign tourist arrival from January to November 2014 is as many as 8,520,077 people or increases by 7.29% compared to the same period in 2013, which are 7,941,474 people.

The optimism is based on the assump-tion that there will be significant increase in tourist arrival in December 2014 during the peak season when there are also some big events held in Indonesia such as Inter-national Jazz Festival, Banyuwangi Beach Jazz Festival, Bintan Marathon, Djakarta Warehouse Project 2014 and Bintan Golf Challenge 2014. It is assumed that tourist arrival in December 2014 is the same as December 2013, which were 860,655 tourists. Therefore, the target of 9.3 million foreign tourist arrivals is optimistic to be achieved this year.

The increase of foreign tourist visit in the period of January – November 2014 was also supported by presence of several big events such as Indonesia Dance Festival (IDF) 2014 in Jakarta, 100th Anniversary of Gong Kebyar in Saren Palace Ubud (Bali), Jakarta Fashion Week (JFW), the 3rd Musi Triaboatton and music concerts held in Jakarta, Bandung, Bali and a number of big cities in Indonesia.

“Active Promotion Abroad “

Active promotion boosts the increase of

foreign tourist visit to Indonesia. Tourism Ministry together with tourism stakehold-ers such as BPPI (Indonesian Tourism Promotion Board), tourism industries, local governments, and VITO (Visit Indonesia Tourism Officer) spread in 13 countries, namely Singapore, Malaysia, Australia, China (Beijing and Guangzhou), Japan, Korea, India, Middle East, England, Hol-land, France, German and Russia actively promote Indonesian tourism through participating in the world tourism mart.

International tourism mart followed by Indonesian tourism businesses facilitated by Tourism industry include Vakantiebeurs (Holland), LA Travel & Adventure Show ( USA), ASEAN Tourism Forum (Malaysia), South Asia Tourism & Travel Expo (India), Perth Holiday & Travel Expo ( Australia), NATAS Travel Fai (Singapore), Sydney Holi-day & Travel Show (Australia), ITB Berlin (German), New York Times Travel (USA), Melbourne Travel Expo (Australia), MATTA Fair (Kuala Lumpur), IFT Beograd (Serbia), tourism promotion Vatican Museum, Ara-bian Travel Mart 2014 (Dubai), and Interna-tional Travel Expo (ITE) in Hong Kong.

Data from the Center of Data and In-formation and Central Bureau of Statistics show that based on nationality, tourist

arrival in November 2014 in 19 main entrances that experienced high increase are Egypt (17.46%), India (16.39%), China (13.47%), Saudi Arabia (11.79%), and Hong Kong (8.05%) and tourist arrival that experienced the highest increase cumulatively in the period of January – November 2014 are Bahrain (43.15%), Egypt (36.09%), Saudi Arabia 29.02%), China (27.03%), and United Arab Emirates (24.45%).

Foreign tourist arrival in three big en-trances in November 2014 includes Batam (-0.27%), Ngurah Rai International Airport (-1.05%) and Soekarno-Hatta International Airport (-9.68%). Cumulatively, from Janu-ary to November 2014 tourist arrival via Ngurah Rai International Airport increased by 14.98%, Batam by 8.42% and Soekar-no-Hatta by 0.21%.

According to the market analysis by Directorate of Market Development and Tourism Information Ministry of Tourism, the increase of foreign tourist visit from Middle East, China and India are the result of active promotion such as participating in the Arabian Travel Mart 2014 (Dubai), International Travel Expo (ITE) in Hong Kong and South Asia Tourism & Travel Expo (India).

Optimistic to achieve the target of 9.3 million foreign tourist arrival


------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

News

The decrease in foreign tourist ar-rival from Europe such as from German, France, England and Holland in November 2014 was due to the weakening of Euro towards US dollar and Japanese Yen. There-fore, many European people switch their holiday to closer countries. Besides that, heavy rain that caused flood and landslide in Malaysia has also become one of the causes the decrease of tourist visit from Malaysia.

“Bali Increases by 14.78 Percent”

Foreign tourists enjoying holiday in Bali in the period January – November 2014 reached 3.41 million people or increased

by 14.78% compared to the same period in 2013 that reached 2.97 million people. “Most of the tourists came through Ngurah Rai International Airport by direct flights from their countries. Only 28,644 came via harbor using cruise ship,” said head of Bali Province Center Bureau of Statistics, Panusunan Siregar.

He said that Provincial Government of Bali is targeting 2.9 million foreign tourist arrivals by the end of 2014. This means that the number of foreign tourist arrival by November 2014 has surpassed the target excluding tourist arrival in December 2014. From top ten countries contributing tourists to Bali, nine of them experienced significant increase and only one country, Taiwan, which decreased from 119,705 (January – November 2013) to 106,850 (2014).

Australia contributed as many as 859,069 tourists or increased by 18.70% compared to the same period in 2013, which were recorded as many as 754,049 people. Australia contributed 26.18% from the total foreign tourist visiting Bali. China contributed 539,371 tourists or increased by 49.28% compared to the previous year, which were 361,311 people. Panusunan continued that tourists from Malaysia is on the third rank by contributing 198,133 people or increased by 14.87% com-pared to the same period in 2013, which were 172,487 people. “Japan contributed 195,541 people or increased by 1.64%, Singapore 155,892, South Korea 132,218, France 121,471, England 116,800, Taiwan 106,850 and the USA 100,414,” said Panusunan. (*/bowo)

Bali Governor I Made Mangku Pastika believed that the travel warning to Indonesia issued by the Australian

government will not significantly affect foreign tourist visit to Bali. “I don’t think it will give significant effect since Bali for Australians is like the second home. Especially when it’s winter there, they will come to Bali. The issue of travel warning is a bit overreacted, although it’s the right of every country to manage its citizens,” he said.

He said that so far Bali has no problem in terms of security as well as health. I think the travel warning to Bali or other areas in Indo-nesia will not give any problems to Bali for it is not specifically mentioned that the travel

warning is applied to Bali, it might be other areas in Indonesia.

“On the other sides, I encourage the people of Bali to maintain the security in the island. We can’t invite people to come while we can’t maintain the security here. Everything should be in accordance to the objective situation. People do not have to worry for now the condition is very transparent and if everything goes well in Bali, there won’t be any prob-lems,” Mangku said.

Previously, the Australian government warned the citizens to not traveling to Indo-nesia. They concern about terrorist attack. According to them, terrorism can happen

anytime and anywhere. Australia so far is the highest contributor of foreign tourist to Bali.

“Intelligent should co-ordinate with foreign intelligent”

According to vice head of commission I Indonesia House of Representatives (DPR) Tubagus Hasanudin, Indonesian intelligent should coordinate with the USA and Austra-lian intelligent regarding the travel warning is-sued by both countries. Travel warning issued by the USA and Australia advises their citizens not to travel to Indonesia due to the potential of terrorist activity.

“Why foreign parties know while we are lack of information. Coordination with intelligent from both countries is expected to sharpen the intelligent operation in Indonesia. Regard-ing the travel warning issued by the USA and Australia, I ask the government to increase the alert,” he said.

Tubagus Hasanudin is sure that the intelli-gent information conveyed to the US Ministry of External Affairs must have come from legitimate sources so that the ministry issued travel warning. It must be done to avoid the unexpected things to happen. (*/ant)

Bali Governor :Australian Travel Warning Australia is overreacted

Mangku Pastika


News

The amount of information that can be got from social media and blogs plus the increasing number of internet

users have made the Regional Tourism Promotion Board (BPPD) of West Nusa Tenggara (NTB) Province interested in

promoting tourism through internet. According to the research conducted by

BPPD NTB, most of tourists visiting Lom-bok use internet technology to find tourist destination, accommodation or entertain-ment places. “This means that digital media

is one of the promotional power to lift the number of tourist arrival up at low cost,” said Taufan Rachmadi, head of BPPD NTB during the Workshop West Nusa Tenggara Tourism Brand-ing in Mataram recently.

Taufan explained that the strategy used to promote NTB’s tourism through internet is by putting photos of tourist destinations in the province on social media such as Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. Spreading

news via social media is very fast and can be accessed from all over the world this way is believed to be able to boost tourist arrival both domestic and foreign to the province.

According to Taufan, the uploaded photos will be better if it is completed with description or story about the culture or the beauty of nature. With stories, anyone can feel and know the potentials of the destination to be visited. Considering the number of social media users that continues increasing, promotion of tourism products and traditions will be faster. It is also expected to increase tourist arrival drastically so that the target of 2 million tourist visits to Lombok – Sumbawa in 2015 can be achieved.***

Government promises to increase tourism promotional budget by three times higher than the

previous one. This was conveyed by Vice President Jusuf Kalla during the meeting with Association of Indonesian Hotel and Restaurant (PHRI).

However, the budget depends on the state budget (APBN) 2015. “Let’s see the APBN first,” said JK at his office recently. Vice president is planning to increase promotional budget three times higher from IDR 150 billion to IDR 1.2 trillion. It is considering the decrease of hotel and restaurant’s earning due to the regulation of Minister of State Apparatus and Bureau-cratic Reform (Menpan-RB) that prohibit government institutions to hold meeting and event in hotel or restaurant.

The additional promotional budget is also aimed to increase foreign tourist arriv-al to Indonesia. Therefore, hotel occupancy can also increase. JK said that President Joko Widodo has given signal that tourism promotion should be improved. “President also decides to improve promotion. Pro-motion requires large budget,” said JK.

In the previous occasion, Tourism Min-

ister Arief Yahya said that with the current promotional budget of around IDR 370 bil-lion, government should find smart way to promote tourist destinations in Indonesia internationally. According to Arief, it re-quires USD 5 to bring one tourist. It means that to attract 20 million foreign tourists, government needs at least IDR 1.2 trillion

per year. In the neighboring countries like Malaysia, the tourism promotional budget is now around that range. “President Joko Widodo has committed to increase tourism promotional budget, in which we need four times higher of the current budget,” said Arief. (*)

Vice President to Promise IDR 1.2 trillion Tourism Promotional Budget

BPPD NTB: Maximizing internet use to boost tourist arrival

Jusuf Kalla


News

Central Java Association of Indonesia Travel Agents (ASITA) considers the AirAsia QZ8501 plane crash

to not affecting tourism sector in Central Java. “It slightly affected tourism sector at the beginning. There were some people cancelling their trip overseas, but the number is not significant,” said Central Java Asita chairperson, Joko Suratno.

The number of people cancelling their trip was under five percent so that it does not need to be worried about. The impact is temporary because nowadays, travel-ing has become main need of the society. Airlines serving international routes are not only AirAsia. There are many airlines serv-ing international routes with better service.

According to Joko, Singapore is one of the most favorite tourist destinations among Central Java people. It is consider-ing its close distance from Indonesia and the country also offers many interesting

tourist attractions. “Looking at the trend in the previous years, the peak of booking for traveling to Singapore takes place in May, June, and July. There is great sale during those months in Singapore,” he said.

LCC’s Abolishment to make Tourism Sec-tor going down

Chairperson of Yogyakarta Asita Edwin Ismedi Himna said that safety factor is handled by competent division. In terms of business, Asita enthusiastically welcome if there are more airlines entering Indonesia.

The shocking thing is that the flight license of low cost carriers (LCC) will be reviewed while so far it has given great contribution to the national tourism indus-try. “LCC has brought many tourists from all over the world to Indonesia. If LCC is for-bidden to fly, it means that the government has been inconsistent in chasing the target

of 20 million tourists by 2019,” he said.So far, LCC to Indonesia means a lot

considering that this type of carrier has brought many tourists to the country. The policy to forbid LCC flying is contra productive to the plan of the government to develop national tourism business.

“Tourism in the country will go down without LCC. The plane crash happened to one of LCC, which was considered to vio-late the flight permit, does not mean that all LCCs also the same. The government seems panic responding to this matter. This should be internal problem, in this case is Ministry of Transportation, so that it is un-necessary to bring this issue into business sector that can create multiply effects,” Edwin said.

Nowadays, people prefer to travel by LCC considering its affordable price. Thus, it is unfair to blame all LCCs for what hap-pened to one of them. (*)

ASITA: AirAsia Plane Crash Doesn’t Affect Tourism Sector

16 | Paradiso November, 2014

Ministry of Transportation recorded that transportation during Chirstmas 2014 and New Year 2015 holiday ran quite well.

There was 9% increase of passengers using public transport. “In general, it ran well,” said caretaker of Director General of Land Transportation Sugihardjo in his office recently.

In 2013, there were 11,792,704 people using public transport and it becomes 12,969,649 people in 2014. Passenger of land transport increases by 7.28% compared to the previous year. Train passenger increases by 10.14%. In the contrary, passenger of sea transport decreased by 0.12%. According to Director General of Sea Transportation Bobby Mamahit, sea transport plays important role in the transportation in east-ern Indonesia.

The success of public transport service affects the volume of transport on the road. Some events such as the eruption of Mount Gamalama that has caused Ternate Airport to be closed on 19 – 29 December 2014 did not cause big problem. (*)

End of Year Holiday, Passenger to Increase by 9%

News


Coordinating Minister of Maritime Affairs, Indroyono Soesilo said that in the next few years Indonesia is

going to build seven marinas for luxurious yachts owned by foreign entrepreneurs. Indroyono mentioned that the marinas will be located in Saumalaki, Ambon, Kupang, Tarakan, Labuan Bajo, Tanjung Pandan and Belitung.

“Foreign businessmen on holiday usually anchored their yachts in those areas that cost them USD 300 to USD 800 per month,” said Indroyono recently. Indroyono has also got approval from President Joko Widodo (Jokowi) in terms of optimizing income from tourism sector. “We’ve provided free visa to five countries

and this is expected to increase foreign tourist arrival,” he said.

In 2015, Indonesia is target-ing 10 million foreign tourist visits. This figure is expected to continue increasing up to 20 mil-lion people in the next four years with the estimated earning of US$ 2.4 billion. Currently, Indonesia is able to attract 9 million foreign tourists per year.

Actually, this figure has signifi-cant difference compared to the neighboring countries. Malaysia is visited by 26 million tourists

per year, Thailand is 26 million per year and Singapore is 15 million tourists per year. This is because those countries apply free visa policy to many countries. “Malaysia provides free visa for 154 countries, Thai-land to 60 countries and Indonesia to 15 countries only,” he said.

Indonesia is planning to provide free visa to five new countries, namely China, Australia, Japan, South Korea and Russia. The additional free visa to five countries is expected to bring 450 thousand new tourists per year. It means that per person will contribute at least US$ 1,200 per year to the national income and brings the total of US$ 540.

“50 Cruise Ships Anchored in Bali in 2014“

In 2014 as many as 50 cruise ships an-chored in Benoa harbor, Bali. The number meets the target set by the government. The number has increased compared to 2013 when there were 43 cruise ships an-chored in the harbor. “The target for 2015 is an additional of 5 – 10 cruise ships,” said General Manager PT Pelabuhan Indonesia (Pelindo) III Benoa branch, Adi Sodikin in Denpasar.

Ali said further that every cruise ship an-chored in Benoa harbor carries more than 1,000 foreign tourists. Thus, it is estimated that the total foreign tourist visit through Benoa harbor reached 50,000 tourists. “Besides that, there are tourists who come on a yacht and this add the total foreign tourist arrival to more than 50,000 people,” he said.

As the operator of harbor service, Ali added, Pelindo III continues making improvement in terms of facilities that sup-port the coming of cruise ship tourists so that they will feel comfortable, secured and well served during their visit in Bali. (*)

Indonesia to Build 7 Cruise Ship Ports

President Joko Widodo wants to improve tourism sector in the next five years. Foreign tourist arrival is

set at the number of 25 million by 2019. On the other sides, Jokowi also focuses economic growth sources on manufacture sector. “I’m sure many people are surprised knowing the focus on tourism sector and manufacture,” said Minister of Finance Bambang PS Brodjonegoro.

Tourism and manufacture become the fourth focus of economy of Jokowi after food, energy and maritime. Bambang also explains the reason Jokowi puts tourism and manufacture as the booster of eco-nomic growth.

Bambang said that President Jokowi sees the opportunity of increasing import

when infrastructure is improved in order to support the vision of food, energy and maritime. “There should be balance propor-tion from export. Products are from manu-facture. President wants export to move from commodity to manufacture,” Bam-bang explained. Considering the current depreciation of rupiah, manufacture gets its best momentum to be improved. “So, why tourism? Tourism is the fastest sector among service sectors that gives profit. If we compare it to freight or insurance, they are far behind tourism sector. Tourism is the quick win,” said Bambang. (*)

Jokowi’s reason for focusing on Tourism and Manufacture

News

President Joko Widodo

18 | Paradiso September, 2014

Photo by Bobo Tandiono


Among the various campaigns about animal conservation, the whale-hunting tradition is still

carried out by Lamalera people in East Nusa Tenggara (NTT). Although there are pros and cons about it, this cultural activity is maintained in order to fulfill the need of Lamalera people.

The whale-hunting activity in Lamalera village, Lembata Regency (NTT) has been done since the 16th century. Local people believe that their ancestors were taken by the blue whale to the village. Now, every May to September, a group of men carefully watch Sawu Sea located around Lamalera village. They attempt to catch giant whale called Koteklema or also known as Sperm whale (Physeter macrocephalus).

Whale-hunting is done by men who are considered to be able to survive for few days or weeks on the sea. They use a wooden boat called peledang. Everyone involved in the hunting has certain role. The one responsible to stab the whale using a spear is called Lama fa. He stands on the edge of the boat, jumps

and stabs the whale. Until now, Lamalera people catch

whale using traditional technique and do not use modern equipment that can kill the whale brutally. Whale caught is not used for commercial purpose. It is shared to all villagers. Local people also use whale oil as massage oil, medication as well as fuel to light the lamp. There-fore, Lamalera people believe that this tradition should be maintained for it con-cerns about the aspects of environment, social and economy of the community.

Although it still draws critics from various parties, whale-hunting tradition is allowed by conservation organization and Ministry of Tourism and Creative Economy. The cultural activity is recog-nized as a tradition internationally.

Tourism and Creative Economy Bureau of NTT Province held Seminar on Whale in Lewoleba, Lembata Regency on 11 – 13 December 2014. The seminar presented several speakers that included environmental expert Sonny Keraf and Lembata regent Eliantze Sunur. This seminar is expected to provide model

of effective sea mammals’ management without ignoring the interest of inter-national law that has been ratified by Indonesia, the aspect of environment, economy and social and cultural aspects related to the local wisdom that has been carried out from one generation to another in Lamalera – Lembata.

This seminar was targeting the people of Lamalera, central government, NTT Provincial government, non-profit en-vironmental organization such as WWF and Green Peace. With new insight from the seminar, good cooperation from all parties is believed to be able to succeed the preservation of the tradition as well as the environment,

Lamalera people continue preserving the tradition of whale-hunting to fulfill their need. Culturally, this tradition is re-lated to the existence of Lamalera people from generation to generation. On the other sides, the process of whale-hunting is potential to become tourist attraction in NTT, which will bring significant effect to the welfare of Lamalera and Lembata people. ***

From Whale Seminar in Lewoleba – Lembata Regency

Lamalera People Should Maintain Whale-Hunting Tradition

NTT


Whale-hunting activity in Lamalera village, Wulandoni sub-district, Lembata regency, East Nusa

Tenggara has become a tradition carried out from one generation to another. This tradition has introduced the people live in the foot of Mount Labalekan to the world.

If there is the tradition of seal and penguin hunting in Canada, Greenland or around the South Pole, then Indonesia has a more extreme tradition, which is whale-hunting. It is carried out by people of La-malera village. Various sources mentioned that this tradition has been taking place since the 16th century.

Before hunting whales on the sea, fisher-men of Lamalera pray together so that God will bless them with success in catch-ing whale. Traditional fisherman is only equipped with a spear called tempuling. This traditional weapon is made from long bamboo with sharp metal on the tip. With this weapon, they try to kill a whale, which body size is much bigger than human.

A bamboo with sharp metal can defeat the giant mammal. No wonder many tour-ists come to see this interesting tradition and tourist arrival to Lamalera is increas-ing every year. However, sometimes the traditional fishermen are unlucky. The giant mammal drags their boat up to the Austra-lian water or up to Kupang, the capital of East Nusa Tenggara Province.

When the fishermen have successfully stabbed the whale with a spear, they will just follow the movement of the whale until it becomes weak and powerless. When it happened then the whale is pulled to La-malera beach. However, there is also times when the boat is wrecked by the whale and injured the fishermen.

A fisherman died during the whale-hunt-ing is always connected to the situation in the village. It is believed that before leav-ing, the victim is ‘unclean’, which means there is problem in his family or violation of the customs. Therefore, fishermen leaving for whale-hunting should be clean.

Whale-hunting is usually started in May. It uses a wooden boat called paledang. The person who is responsible to stab the whale is called lama fa. He stands on the edge of the boat when a whale appears to sight. Lama fa is then looking for opportu-nity to stab the whale using a tempuling. He does not merely throw tempuling to the whale, but also jump into the whale while holding the tempuling. It can be imagined the reaction of the hurt whale and the ef-fect can be dangerous to lama fa and other fishermen.

The meat got from the hunting will be distributed to all villagers in accordance to the proportion of work that has been done by the representative of the family joined the whale-hunting. Besides the meat, local

people also use the whale oil as massage oil, medicine and lamp fuel.

Although there is convention that prohibits whale-hunting activity, the whale-hunting tradition in Lamalera is still well maintained. Baby whale and pregnant whale are not hunted in order to maintain the population of whales in Lamalera.

Now, parents in Lamalera try hard to train their children so that later they will become lama fa. This is done because the decreasing interest and awareness of Lamalera’s youths to perpetuate the whale-hunting tradition inherited from their ancestor.

Provincial government of NTT through Cultural and Tourism Bureau make the whale-hunting tradition into a tourist attrac-tion. Head of Cultural and Tourism Bureau Alexander Sena said recently that Lamalera village has become a tourism village and included in the PNPM Mandiri (National Community Empowerment Program).

The provincial government is commit-ted to make Lamalera as one of the main tourism icons in Lembata regency. This has been started from 2009 by holding the Baleo Festival in Lamalera.

“We’re concentrating to make Lamalera into tourism icon of Lembata,” he said. He hopes that with the support from the central government, Lamalera will be more developed and known worldwide. ***

NTT

Whale-Hunting Tradition in Lamalera

Lembata regency Eliaser Yantje Sunur shows his love and serious concern on the tradition of whale-

hunting in Lamalera. He was furious if there are parties who forbid Lamalera people to catch whale traditionally. For him, this activity is rich in cultural, social and economy values.

“Catching whale traditionally that is carried out by Lamalera people is a tradition inherited from their ancestor. It is full of social, cultural, economy and spiritual values. Therefore, I’m very upset when there are people who stop Lamalera people from catching whale. I’d like to state that there shouldn’t be any prohibition for Lamalera people to catch whale traditionally,” said Yantjie in the Seminar on Whale at Palm Indah Hotel, Lewoleba some times ago.

According to him, the thing that should be done now is thinking on how to sell the whale-hunting tradition as potential commodity to attract more domestic and foreign tourist to visit La-malera. He also asserted that since it is the only whale-catching tradition in the world, it deserves to be made into one

of NTT’s icons in addition to Komodo dragon.

“In 2013 we sell Komodo as the only giant reptile in the world and included as one of the world wonder. Thus, the whale-hunting tradition is also expected to be in the list of the world wonder just like Komodo dragon since it is also the only whale-hunting tradition in the world,” said Yantje.

According to him, people of Lembata should be proud to have Lamalera as well as Lamalera people. It is because they have successfully maintained the tradition that has been passed from one generation to another without being affected by the advancement of technol-ogy.

“I ask the chief of Lamalera A and B village, custom and religious figures to not being suspicious when there are people, especially the government, who have good intention to develop Lama-lera. It is because tourism sector has promising economic opportunity such as the whale-hunting activity, which is still done in traditional way. Therefore, tourism sector should be specifically

designed so that it can compete with other areas in Indonesia, especially because Lembata regency is included in the program of MP3EI.

According to the regent, tourism sector development is not merely the responsibility of the government. It has to involve the third party and the local community. Local government of Lembata tries to open flight route from Lembata to Wakatobi as the gate for tourists to visit Lembata.

He also said that God has given whales to Lamalera so that it can be used for the benefit of the people there. “We don’t need to argue about the conservation issue as long as we can preserve the environment and the whale-hunting tradition. Besides that, we try to make this tradition into world won-der so that it can be the second icon of NTT after Komodo,” he said.

The whale-hunting tradition should be preserved since it is used traditional way. Lamalera people do not hunt blue whale (balaenoptera musculus) and do not kill pregnant sperm whale, baby whale or whales in breeding season. ***

No One Can Prohibit Whale-Catching in Lamalera

NTT


EndeLOKA LOLO CEREMONY ( Pati Ka tana )

Ende

Loka Lolo is a traditional ceremony that is held every May – June in Nggela village, one of megalithic villages that

has 17 custom houses with different names and functions related to every traditional ceremony held in the village. One of the interesting ceremonies held in the village is LOKA LOLO and WANGGA JAWA CEREMONY.

There is an agreement among three Mosalaki (Tu Adat) from three custom houses of Sa’O Ria in the night at around 10pm while stepping to kanga (special place for holding custom activities). An announcement made in which several Mosalaki are assigned to clean kanga ria and kanga lo’o as well as along the road used for holding the ceremony for two

days. The third day is called Ngowi when women go to the field for cutting solor corn (lolo). The corns are half-cooked, fried and then pounded.

When the day comes, 17 children representing every custom house bring big basket and approach Mosalaki who have prepared solor corn. The corn is then given to each child in certain amount. There are two Mosalaki who are assigned to handle the ceremony. One faces the north and another faces the south with each holding solor corn on their palm. The ceremony is begun by spreading lolo to places, which are believed to be the center of village or borders of village, while chanting words asking for fertility, good harvest and pros-perity for the villagers. After the ceremony, all Mosalaki gather in one of the custom house for drinking moke as a sign of the end of the ceremony, which is called pati minum watu.

“the sign of starting

the village fight,,


People of Nggela village are divided into two groups, namely “ATA TOBA” or the natives and “ATA REWO” or the new comers. This division can be seen from the implementation of Wangga Jawa cer-emony, which is also divided into two forms, namely Wangga Jawa Ata Toba followed by several custom houses led by Sa’o Ria custom house and is not tied to certain regulation and Wangga Jawa Ata Rewo followed by several cus-tom houses led by Sa’O Leke custom house and is tied to what is called Mega Pire during the ceremony in which all custom houses as Ata Rewo are prohib-

ited to greet each other and violation to this will result in sanction. The one who violate this rules has to pay in a form of a pig and if he does not pay, there will be disaster in the family.

The day of the ceremony is based on agreement. If the first day is Ata Toba, then the next day will be Ata Rewo. All participants will gather in the custom house that leads the ceremony wearing red/black clothes. They march carrying equipment called Bosa Keli, which is hung in certain place for years inside the custom house heading to their corn field. The participants consist of virgin

of custom descendant. Each girl carries a basket containing fish, sambal (condi-ment) and peanut leaves as side dishes to eat grilled corn. They go back to their respective village carrying corns that have been cleaned, enter the custom house and throw the side dishes and the corn in the front yard. The partici-pants enter the custom house without greeting to each other and only people who are waiting in the custom house prepare food and drink for the partici-pants. All corns are collected in Sa’o Ria custom house and will be brought to each house on the next day.

WANGGA JAWA CEREMONY (CORN HARVEST )

28 | Paradiso December, 2014

Sumba


Sumba


Event & Destination


Event & Destination

In order to reach the target of 20 million foreign tourist arrival in 2019, various efforts are carried out by the Ministry

of Tourism. The effort is aimed to make Indonesian tourism be more recognized internationally. One of the breakthroughs is the use of Wonderful Indonesia and Pesona Indonesia branding and e-Tourism.

“I hope Indonesia can be the best in ASEAN and even in the world. My point is that Wonderful Indonesia branding must be used everywhere,” said Tourism Minister Arief Yahya in the launching of Wonderful Indonesia and Pesona Indonesia branding in Jakarta recently.

Arief explained that the usage of brand-ing Wonderful Indonesia and Pesona Indo-

nesia has the same proportion, which is 50 – 50. As tourism branding, both should be used in various online and offline promo-tional media.

“Various local tourism taglines should also use Wonderful Indonesia branding such as ‘Enjoy Jakarta by Wonderful Indone-sia,” said Arief.

To maximize Indonesian tourism promo-tion, Tourism Ministry also launches seven e-Tourism products. According to Arief, promotion through digital media will be more effective. e-Tourism has also been launched together with the branding of Wonderful Indonesia and Pesona Indone-sia.

Furthermore, Arief mentioned that the seven e-Tourism products include inte-grated website or tourism portal, mobile application, WOI (Wonderful Indonesia) TV, sinetal (digital cinema) and sinemol (online cinema), digital photo bank, www.indone-siafilm.net, and Travel Blogger Award 2015.

e-Tourism is expected to provide easier access to tourists who want to know and explore Indonesia anytime and from anywhere.

“Wonderful Indonesia TV “

The seven e-Tourism products are created to maximize tourism promotion through digital media. One of the products is WOI (Wonderful Indonesia) TV, which is a television that provides programs related to tourism in Indonesia.

Currently, WOI TV can only be accessed through UseeTV. Later, it is going to be integrated with the e-Tourism portal of Tourism Ministry. WOI TV is an internet TV, which is expected to provide easier access to foreign tourists to explore Indonesia tourism online.

“The point is that WOI TV serves as

promotional media that is expected to be able to be accessed by people worldwide. Therefore, the concept used is internet TV,” said Mayun W, Project Director UseeTV.

Moreover, Mayun explained that some contents of WOI TV have been made by Tourism Bureau and those contents will continue be developed. Tourism Bureau in each area is expected to contribute contents to WOI TV.

Along with the growth of WOI TV, later there will be live channel. It is also ex-pected that in the future there will be more programs such as news, talk show, short movie and many more.

The launching was also attended by Minister of National Development Planning (BAPPENAS) Andrinof Chaniago, Minister of Land and Spatial Planning Ferry Mursyi-dan Baldan and former minister of Tourism and Creative Economy Sapta Nirwandar. (bowo)

Strengthening Promotion, Tourism Minister Launches

7 E-Tourism Products

Arief Yahya


Event & Destination

East Nusa Tenggara (NTT) Governor Frand Lebu Raya together with Director General

Tourism Marketing Esthy Reko AStuty launched a book “Alor Underwater” in Sapta Pesona Building, Jakarta on Monday (15/12). The book launching is part of the attempt to promote NTT’s tourism, especially Alor Regency, which is known for its beautiful underwater garden.

“One thing that makes NTT famous is the Komodo dragon. NTT is also well known for Lake Kelimutu, Pasola in Sumba and great waves for surfing in Nemberala, Rote,” said NTT Gover-nor, Frans Lebu Raya in the Tourism Ministry, Jakarta recently.

Frans added that one thing that should be proud of is the underwater world of Alor. Therefore, the provin-cial government of NTT proudly pres-ents the book “Alor Underwater.” The book contains collection of photos describing the beauty of nature and culture of Alor.

On the same occasion, Esthy Reko Astuty, Director General Marketing of Tourism Ministry said that Tourism Ministry appreciates the book launch-ing. The book also serves as pilot project of the annual plan to capture the beauty of nature and culture in other areas in NTT. “Hopefully, the development can give significant effect and encourage the community

to continue working together,” said Esthy.

The photos in “Alor Underwater” were taken by photographers from Indonesia and abroad in seven days in September 2014. Photographers from Indonesia are Muljadi Pinneng Sulungbudi, Dewi Wilaisono, Edly Tahier, Ferry Rusli, Gemala Hanafiah, and Ria Qorina Lubis. Three pho-tographers from abroad are William Tan (Singapore), Yuriko Chikuyama (Japan) and Steven Ko (Taiwan).

“This book probably has not been able to reveal the entire richness, beauty and potentials of Alor. But we hope those photos can represent our love to Alor and more people will love

Promoting Alor, NTT to Launch book “Alor Underwater”

Esthy Reko Astuty and Frans Lebu Raya


Event & Destination

it as well so that Alor and its people can continue developing without forgetting their identity,” said Muljadi Pinneng.

Photography experience was also shared by one of the photographers, Ria Qorina Lubis, who admitted that she got many interesting experiences during her time in Alor. The launching of the book is expected to become the media to show and promote the beauty of nature and culture of Alor both nationally and internationally.

“Alor has successfully made me miss-es it. The underwater nature with color-ful corals and various sea creatures has amazed me and always made me wants to keep coming back there. Alor is so beautiful, not only its nature, but also the culture and creative economy products such as woven cloth. The hos-pitality of the local people adds positive point to Alor,” said Ria. (bowo)


Event & Destination

Located on the eastern-most edge of the island of Java, just across the island of Bali, lies the town of

Banyuwangi. Its busy port, Ketapang, serves regular ferries that ply daily between Bali and Java carrying passengers, cars and buses, as well as trucks laden with all sorts of goods to and from Java.

Being the east-most city on Java, this is where the dawn first rises in the morning throwing its welcoming rays over Java, this lush green but also most densely populat-ed island. Not yet quite popular as a tourist destination, the regency of Banyuwangi, in fact, hides many secret gems, from loom-ing mountains, natural game reserves to rolling surge of waves, that are the dream of surfers all over the world. Here also live the Osing ethnic sub-group, believed to speak the oldest Javanese language from which evolved Java’s most sophisticated

civilization over the centuries. Banyuwangi Regency extends over an

area of 5,800 sq. km, comprising southern beaches brushed by the Indian Ocean, to impressive Mt. Raung that stands at 3,282 m and Mt. Merapi at 2,800 m above sea level. To its north is the Regency of Situ-bondo, while the Regencies of Jember and Bondowoso lie to its west, and to its east is the island of Bali.

Besides being the largest regency on Java, Banyuwangi is also the largest fish producer of the province of East Java, with the town of Muncar by the Bali Strait, its main fishing wharf. Banyuwangi is also known for its banana crops. Almost all gardens in this district boast trees that produce luscious bananas.

Because of the close proximity here between the islands Bali and Java and for centuries being a busy trading port, the

BanyuwangiEast Java’s Wildlife Safaris and Barrelling Surf


Event & Destination

exchange of many cultural influences in Banyuwangi is unavoidable. Here the kingdom of Blambangan was once its most greatest kingdom, showing a fusion between the cultures of Java and Bali, mixed with that of the island of Madura, as well as absorbing Malay, Eropean, Chinese influences and traces of ancient roots from the ancient Osing Jawa people. Some typical Banyuwangi dances that are infused with these multi-cultural influences are: the gandrung dance, barong kemiren, seblang, janger, rengganis, hadrah kunthulan, patrol, mocopatan pacul goang, jaranan butho, barong, kebo-keboan, angklung caruk, and gedhogan. These are shown

during the annual Banyuwangi Etno Car-nival where most of the ethnic dances are performed for locals and visitors to enjoy.

Banyuwangi literally means Aromatic Water, which is associated with the local legend, The story goes that once upon a time a king abducted the wife of his own prime minister. When the minister came to know about it he went into a rage and stabbed his wife. But before she died, she vowed that as proof that she had always remained faithful to her husband the water of the river where her blood flowed would exude an aromatic perfume, which indeed it did. The prime minister, who dearly loved his wife, regretted the murder for the rest

of his life. The town of Banyuwangi is the gateway

to your explorations to watch wild animals roam freely in the reserve of Alas Purwo, the oldest game reserve on Java, go trek-king through the savannahs of Baluran, or find secluded and untouched beaches at Pulau Merah or G-Land, and travel to Sukamade Beach where turtles come to hatch their eggs. Mountain climbers can hike up from Banyuwangi to the stunning Ijen Crater and be amazed by blue flames that spring out among the yellow sulphu-rous rocks, cut and gathered manually by traditional miners.


Tanjung Lesung is an integrated tourism area located in the western tip of Java Island,

Banten Province. The natural beauty and marine tourism potentials of the area are called by many people as the Bali of Java. Now, Tanjung Lesung is improving and turning out to be an exotic tourism area.

Setyono Djuandi Darmono, Presi-dent Director and CEO PT Jababeka Tbk said that Tanjung Lesung is a hidden diamond of Java. This place is suitable for those who want to have a holiday in serene and peaceful atmo-sphere. In addition to that, Tanjung

Lesung is also a perfect spot for pre-wedding photo shoot or wedding party.

“Besides serving as alternative tourist destination, tourism investment potential in Tanjung Lesung is huge, especially in the property sector, which is the development of hotel, villa and cottage,” said Darmono in the event ‘Explore Tanjung Lesung” at Menara Batavia, Jakarta recently.

Currently, Tanjung Lesung has already had hotels as well as luxurious villa with private swimming pool that costs IDR 2 billion. Darmono said that this price is still lower than the same villa located in Bali.

“The price of villa in Tanjung Lesung is about IDR 2 billion and similar villa located in Bali costs IDR 10 billion. In Tanjung Lesung, the price is only 20% of the price in Bali. Can you imagine the price in the next ten years?” said Darmono.

He added that in the future, the area will be completed with airstrip for small planes. In addition to that, in order to attract more tourists, it is planned to build a port in cooperation with PT Pelindo to accommodate cruise ship.

Moreover, Darmono explained that from the total land managed by Jababeka in Tanjung Lesung, it is only

Event & Destination

Tanjung Lesung Tourism is

Growing

39 | Paradiso September, 2014

Event & Destination

20% that has been allocated for hotel, cottage, villa and others. “Currently, Mr. Se-tiawan (Director of West Java – subsidiary of Jababeka) has built 200 rooms, which usually fully occupied on the weekends,” he said.

Tanjung Lesung itself is the closest entrance gate from two world tourist desti-nation, namely Mount Krakatau that can be reached in 1.5 hours from Tanjung Lesung and Unjung Kulon National Park.

The area is also one of the routes passed by foreign cruise ships sailing in Indian Ocean heading to Australia. Therefore, Tan-jung Lesung can be developed into marine tourism area.

“Tourist Arrival is Still Low”

The calculation result on tourist arrival to Tanjung Lesung shows that only 250,000 people visit the area per year and 10% is foreign tourists.

“For now, tourist arrival to Tanjung Lesung is still low considering that it only increases on the weekends. On working days, tourist arrival is almost zero regard-less the land access that has improved compared to last year. The road was in a very bad condition last year, but now it has been asphalted that provides easier access for tourists who want to visit Tanjung Lesung,” Darmono said.

The low number of tourist visit draws the concern of the local government. Dar-mono said that tourism potential in Tanjung Lesung should be noticed. “Tanjung Lesung is as beautiful as Bali and even Singapore. I’m wondering where do the people of Jakarta go during holiday when there is a beautiful tourist destination close to the city,” Darmono said.

For land route, it takes three hour drive from Jakarta to Tanjung Lesung (180 km). If the plan to build toll road East Serang – Panimbang has been realized, the travel time from Jakarta to Tanjung Lesung will be shorter. Tanjung Lesung offers various tour-ist attractions such as beautiful beaches

and villa and cottages as accommodation. “As a tourist destination, Tanjung Lesung

has exotic beaches such as Sagna Beach and Bodur Beach. It will be unforgettable holiday experience to spend time visit-ing beautiful beaches with sparkling white sand, blue water, pristine nature and in-teresting activities such as diving, snorkel-ing, camping, and cycling and other water sports,” he said.

Another activity that cannot be found in other beaches is bird-feeding, which is an experience sailing on the sea while spread-ing bird foot into the water. Those who like photography can use this activity to get amazing photos.

Besides as alternative holiday destina-tion, Tanjung Lesung is also suitable for MICE (Meeting, Incentive, Convention and Exhibition) events. “We have many venues that can accommodate such events. Thus, those who are near Jakarta do not need to find meeting venue up to Singapore considering that the price offered can be ten times higher than venues in Tanjung Lesung,” he said. (bowo)


Indonesia is working on becoming the most favorite culinary tourism destination in the world through

various culinary promotional activities. Tourism Minister Arief Yahya said to reach the goal, the Tourism Ministry held Pekan Wisata Kuliner Tradisional Nusantara (Traditional Culinary Tourism Week) on 12 – 14 December 2014, which took place in the National Monument (MONAS), Jakarta.

“The event aims at encouraging the local government together with the related stakeholders to develop com-petitive Indonesian Culinary Tourism Destination. It is also an attempt to increase the flavor and people’s inter-est towards Indonesian traditional culinary,” he said.

He said further that the event is attempting to introduce Indonesian traditional culinary to people as well as the rich culinary potentials from

various provinces in the country. Indonesian cuisine that has been proven to have great appeal is Ren-dang, which is also chosen as one of the most delicious foods in the world.

“This has proven that Indonesian culinary is likeable and ready to one of the push factors of people’s economy, especially the small-scale businesses. I noted that in 2013, culinary sector contributed IDR 208.6 trillion to the national gross income

Making Indonesia into World Culinary Tourism Destination

Event & Destination


Event & Destination

with the average growth of 4.5% in the period of 2012 – 2013,” he said.

Culinary sector also absorbs 3.7 million labors with the average growth of 0.26%. Business unit created from culinary sector is as many as 3 million with the average rate of growth 0.9%. Nowadays, culinary tourism is no longer a tempo-rary phenomenon. It has become main tourism attraction and destination for tourists travelling to Indonesia.

The event is expected to increase the spirit of people to love Indonesian culture more through traditional culinary and encourages the local gov-ernment to actively involve in the development of culinary potentials in their respective areas. (*)


Talking about her strategy in facing the competition of many Hotels, which has been built in Bali during the last couple of years, especially in strategic tourism areas such as Kuta, Laetitia maintains that each Hotel has a unique point “We have re-positioned Harris Riverview Kuta as a Family Resort with our spacious rooms & residences and facilities that support family holidays such as 4swimming pool, kids pool, Dino Kids club, shuttle service but also the addition of a new room type with 15 family rooms” Said Laetitia.

As a General Manager of HARRIS Hotel & residences Riverview with total 140 rooms Hotel & Residences, 5 meeting rooms with various size can accommodate private small meetings until bigger conference with 250 partici-pants. Free Wi-Fi, Shuttle bus within Kuta area, HARRIS Café, HARRISSIMO, Juice Bar, HARRIS Boutique, Dino Kids

Club, H’Spa, Happy Feet Reflexology, Gym, Internet spot, 3 adults swim-ming pool and a Kid’s pool are facilities provided by the hotel, Laetitia Delvart promise that she and all of the HARRIS Players (this is the term that HARRIS uses to describe its employees) will do their utmost to provide the very best services for their guests.

To support all facilities and services to the guest, Laetitia with her team also prepare some special room packages in every season. The upcoming Chinese New Year, and Nyepi Day (Balinese Day of Silence). HARRIS Riverview guest can enjoy their holidays with family during Chinese New Year with booking the package 3 Days 2 nights stay start-ing Rp. 1.508.000 nett/package for HARRIS Room, include daily breakfast at HARRIS Café, one time dinner during stay for two persons, and enjoy all hotel facilities for period of stay 09 – 23

February 2015. For Nyepi Day, book our 3Days 2 nights package at HARRIS room for Rp. 1.600.000 nett/pack-age, include daily breakfast at HARRIS Café, one time lunch & dinner for two persons, plenty of activities during Nyepi Day. “Recently we have re-looked our lobby for a better welcome of our guests and soon will be adding on a pool bar attached to main pool ; a new facility for our guests” said Laetitia, who loves to run and heading to the next Marathon. ***

Executive

Recommended Family Hotel inBali

LAETITIA DELVART, The French General Manager of HARRIS Hotel & Residences Riverview Kuta Bali and Sport & Culture Director at Bali Hotel Association, has been involved in the

hospitality industry for more than 13 years, and started her carrier in Indonesia in 2001. By working closely with TAUZIA Hotel Management, she aims to deliver promise of providing a healthy lifestyle to the guests. She maintains that what she enjoys most

about her work is being in such a spacious environment and seeing her guest satisfaction.

“


Following the openings of the hotel NEO – Kuta Jelantik, hotel NEO Gatot Subroto and Hotel NEO

Seminyak Petitenget, Archipelago International continues to cement its place in the Bali select service hotel scene with the launch of another NEO in Legian. The new hotel trumps its predecessors in terms of guest room seize and facilities earning it a NEO+ designation in tune with international 3 star standards.

The new Hotel NEO+ Kuta Legian enjoys a perfect location for lovers of Kuta’s nightlife and shopping being that is just down the road from Ground Zero and the popular Sky Garden Club on Jalan Raya Legian yet remains tugged away in a quaint and peaceful side street locally referred to as Jalan Troppozone.

With a modern, contemporary and

youthful design and a superb curt yard pool paired with expert service from a hands-on, dynamic team, the hotel is both proficientl and fun promising stylish but reasonable priced accom-modations for the twenty-first century traveller.

The 117 funky, stylish and smoke-free rooms come with a choice of double or twin beds, outfitted with top of the line linens, cutting edge flat-screen satellite TVs, super cool air-conditioning, mini-bars, safes and en suite bathrooms with large standing showers. Wi-Fi access is fast, reliable and as in all NEOs free and available throughout the entire hotel.

Two well-equipped meeting rooms, a cute little café shop specializing in homemade noodle dishes and a gor-geous spa with well-trained therapists make the NEO+ one of Bali’s most

complete boutique budget hotels. The outdoor swimming pool, surrounded by a spacious sun terrace with plenty of loungers and a poolside snack bar serving much needed refreshments, finish off the tropical hotel with a cool island vibe.

“With NEO and NEO+ Hotels focus-ing on fashion conscious Millennials there could not be a better location for our 4th NEO in Bali and the first slightly more upscale NEO+ then the very heart of Legian. The hotel already received votes of confidence during private pre-screenings we’ve conducted for Japanese and Australian top tour opera-tors and will surely be an awesome success. Right after this we will rush to Penang where the next NEO+ is due to open the heart of Georgetown” said Norbert Vas, Archipelago International’s VP of Sales & Marketing. ***

NEO FOR BALINEW

Bali


The Westin Resort Nusa Dua, Bali is delighted to announce the recent appointment of

Mr. Alex Dietzsch as Executive Assistant Manager of Food & Beverage. He has been tasked with the responsibility to revitalize culinary services at the resort and take in-house dining experiences to exciting new heights.

As a German national, Alex served time in the military before embarking on a career in the hospitality industry. His portfolio includes diplomas in Hotel Man-agement and Financial Manage-ment along with certification in Advanced Food Hygiene.

Having worked his way up through the F&B hierarchy, Alex brings a wealth of culinary knowl-edge and enthusiasm to his new role. He has been with Starwood Hotels & Resorts for almost 10 years and he fully identifies with Westin’s brand philosophy of “Pre-serving wellness in travel”.

A succession of appointments enabled Alex to work in a number of fascinating destinations includ-ing Dubai and Abu Dhabi where he enjoyed exposure to different food cultures. He also gained extensive experience in catering for prestigious automobile and

sporting events. Prior to his arrival in Bali, Alex

was Director of Food and Bever-age at The Westin Grande Sukhum-vit Bangkok where he oversaw three restaurants and banquet facilities. During this time he was also a member of the Starwood F& B Council Asia Pacific, which involved supporting culinary teams at properties in Thailand, Vietnam and Cambodia.

Alex will now take charge of the talented F&B team at The Westin Resort Nusa Dua, Bali. His first priority will be to give menus and presentation standards a new lease of life. Cuisine at the resort has always been splendidly diverse to satisfy all appetites so this duty will be no small undertaking. However, Alex is confident that his enduring passion for good food will serve him well.

Apart from eating and cooking, Alex enjoys aviation and going out. He is looking forward to immersing himself in Bali’s evolving dining scene where innovative restaurants are opening up on a regular basis. Additionally, Alex is keen to visit areas where local ingredients are grown and he intends to learn more about the island’s traditional dishes.***

Bali

THE WESTIN RESORT NUSA DUA, BALI WELCOMES NEW EXECUTIVE ASSISTANT MANAGER OF FOOD & BEVERAGE


When you’re a guest at InterContinental Bali Resort, you might be surprised at how

many elements of the Balinese culture you can find within the hotel and its gardens. A good example of this is the ‘kul-kul,’ a traditional communication system in the form of a wooden bell positioned at the top of a tower.

There are two kul-kul bell towers at In-terContinental Bali Resort, the most promi-nent of which can be seen at the entrance, located to the left hand side when viewed from the lobby. Every kul-kul tower is a time-honoured feature of Balinese archi-tecture, hospitality and daily life, and each of the kul-kul towers at InterContinental Bali Resort is designed to blend seamlessly with the classic architectural design of the buildings.

Inseparable from the cultural and reli-gious life of the local communities, the kul-kul plays a significant role in the everyday lives of the Balinese Hindu people. Every village temple and every ‘banjar’ (traditional village council) has its own kul-kul, which is usually hung within an open-sided pavilion standing upon four pillars and sheltered by a roof. The split bell is crafted from selected hardwoods such as jackfruit or the wood of an orange tree. Occasionally a kul-kul might be made from bamboo but this is

only for temporary use. The pavilion (locally known as the ‘bale kul-kul’ – ‘a place where the wooden bell is hung’) is often placed on a square-shaped tower constructed of sandstone and brick. From here, the sound can be heard over a wide area and will im-mediately attract attention.

The beat of the kul-kul in the temple indicates the start and end of formal cer-emonies, while various other rhythms – re-ferred to as ‘tabuh’ – are used by the banjar to signal different events such as the noti-fication of a marriage or a passing, a signal for help in the case of an emergency such as a house fire, or notification of communi-ty meetings. The temple kul-kul is also used by a number of traditional Balinese organi-sations such as the ‘penabuh’ (gamelan musicians), ‘pecalang’ (village security) and ‘subak’ (rice farmers association), as well as some temporary organisations. The various beats must be made to sound different and typical for each organisation so that members will understand for whom the bell is being tolled. In fact, even chickens and ducks have been known to respond to the sound of the kul-kul, which might be beaten daily by the farmer, and always with the same pattern of sound, to indicate feeding time. For most events, the kul-kul is sounded in two or three rounds, starting with a slow frequency that then becomes

faster, before slowing down again. This ancient and highly effective method

of communication has changed very little over the years. Despite the presence of the telephone, TV and radio, internet and mobile phones, the kul-kul is still the most effective method of making an announce-ment or summoning the members of a village.

InterContinental Bali Resort captures the spirit of Bali through its landscaping, architecture, interior design, artwork and guest activities. Much of the architecture, including the kul-kul towers, is based on traditional Balinese principles, utilising local materials and incorporating the essential elements of Balinese Hindu philosophy and symbolism. The artwork, meanwhile, is a fascinating collection of intricately carved statuary, bas-relief tab-leaux, plaques and panels drawn from the natural and mythical world of the Balinese heritage. Not only is this an exceptional luxury resort, it is also a platform from which guests can explore the local culture through a wide choice of activities and experiences ranging from Balinese cook-ing classes to gamelan music lessons, Balinese dance performances, temple visits, market and village tours, Balinese massage, traditional spa therapies, and the delicious local cuisine.***

THE BALINESE KUL-KUL

Bali

End of 2014 becoming a blissful period with excellent achievement for Management & Smart Team THE 1O1

Bali Legian. THE 1O1 Bali Legian are really thankful to all media participant dedicating their vote to this New Urban Legian through Indonesia Leading Lifestyle Award (ITTA) Facebook Fanpage. The appreciation also addressed to Board Director of Bina Nusantara for the excellent points which

bring THE 1O1 Bali Legian as winner of Indonesia Leading Lifestyle Hotel 2014.

By receiving The Prestigious ITTA award as Indonesia Leading Lifestyle Hotel 2014 Bali, it strengthen the Smart Team spirit to continually delivering Smart Stylish Experience Lifestyle Concept on daily hotel operational and giving a warm & memo-rable experience to all of THE 1O1 Bali Legian guest.

The award ceremony was held at Ritz Carlton Mega Kuningan – Jakarta on 15 December 2014. For THE 1O1 Bali Legian it’s really an honor to win this prestigious award.

THE 1O1 Bali Legian will assure on always giving an outstanding experience since THE 1O1 Bali Legian is not only giving a comfortable accommodation but a memorable lifestyle in a urban destination.

THE 1O1 BALI LEGIAN AS INDONESIA LEADING LIFESTYLE HOTEL 2014 BALI

Bali


Bali

THE 1O1 Bali Legian Management Team would like to share their appreciation to all Hotel & Business partner whom has continually extending the best support in 2014. The appreciation was shown

through Management Sales visit towards all of the mutual partner include Media & Travel Agent and sharing some 1O1 goodies & Christmas Hampers.

THANK YOU FOR YOUR SUPPORT TO THE 1O1 BALI LEGIAN IN YEAR 2014

It was also the moment to cherish all the blessing that THE 1O1 Bali Legian has continually receive through fruitful result and start to entering year 2015 with new hope, in a year with a new you but should be a better you.

We are hoping this mutual relationship will be extend better in 2015 and bring the successful together in the industry.

Happy New Year.


Nusa Dua, Bali, 27 January 2015 – Double celebrations for Bali’s finest address as The St. Regis Bali Resort

and its beachfront fine dining restaurant, Kayuputi, were recognized in recent TripAdvisor® Traveler’s Choice Awards. Winners of the same categories last year, the luxury resort was once again selected as one of Top 25 Hotels in Indonesia and Top 25 Luxury Hotels during the 2015 awards with Kayuputi making the Top 10 list for 2014 Travelers’ Favorite Fine Dining Restaurants in Indonesia and Asia.

Since its opening in February 2009, the resort has made its mark in Bali and is renowned for its exclusive beachfront location, generosity of space in its 123 elegant suites and villas, award-winning dining options and bespoke 24-hour Butler service. Equally as impressive is Kayu-puti, which boasts a vision of white with perfectly modern décor, al fresco seating with unobstructed panoramic ocean view. Chef de Cuisine Agung Gede’s approach

to the Asian-inspired haute cuisine menu is by using only the finest quality ingredients, with an emphasis on authentic preparation which retains the dish’s intrinsic complex-ity and a modern presentation. Kayuputi also firmly establishes itself as the host of the island’s most prestigious wine dinners throughout the year, which included a showcase of one the world’s best red wines of Chateau Angelus in November 2014.

Lucia Liu, Hotel Manager said, “We are delighted and honored to have been be-stowed these prestigious awards again. The fact that these awards have been selected through reviews and opinions of travelers’ made them even more special and this truly serves as a benchmark for the team to continually strive for excellence and a true testament on their dedication.”

The TripAdvisor® Travelers’ Choice Award are presented to qualifying accom-modations, attractions and restaurants listed on the website that maintain a high overall user rating and a high volume of

recent and quality reviews based on mil-lions of valuable reviews and opinions from TripAdvisor® travelers. Currently operat-ing in thirty countries with over 60 million unique monthly visitors and more than 75 million reviews, TripAdvisor® is the world’s largest travel site.

The St. Regis Bali Resort was the St. Regis brand’s first address in Asia and has garnered numerous awards and recogni-tions including Indonesia Resort of the Year in the 2014 Indonesia Travel & Tourism Awards, Best Resort Hotel and Best Hotel in the 2014 International Hotel Awards. Kayuputi Chef de Cuisine, Agung Gede masterfully orchestrates a daily, award-winning degustation menu and the inspir-ing Astor Diamond Champagne Brunch. Renowned as a beacon in the culinary scene in Bali, Kayuputi has earned many noteworthy awards and accolades, includ-ing its fourth ‘Best Award of Excellence’ from Wine Spectator in 2014.

The St. Regis Bali Resort and Kayuputi Recognizedat the TripAdvisor® Traveler’s Choice Award

Bali


On 23rd of January 2015, Avilla Hospitality and supported by Palang Merah Indonesia (PMI) held

Blood Donation event “Save a Life, Give Blood”. As the quarterly event and open to public, this first Avilla’s Corporate Social Responsible (CSR) event of the year had attracted people to join and save lives.

The event was started at 1.30 pm until 5 pm. Placed at Avilla Hospitality Office, Istana Kuta Galeria – Central Parkir BW 1 No. 17, Kuta. Over 60 participants from Avilla Hospitality and all Avilla’s business units have been contributed to the event. “Hopefully this good deed also brings good feeling to all donors who participated on the event,” expressed I GAN Darma Suyasa, the General Manager of Avilla Hospitality Bali.

Avilla Hospitality Management Develop-ment is an innovative player in its field and has a vision to become a local champion in Bali. Established in 2010 and has inspired and managed 12 brands, including Le Jar-din Villas as the first rain forest garden villa in Bali, Berry Amour Villas as the first the-matic romance villa in Bali, Alindra Villa as the first cultural villa compound in Bali, and Kokonut Suites as the first suite with villa services in Bali. There are also Bliss Surfer Hotel as the first surf themed hotel in Bali,

Berry Hotel as the first value lifestyle hotel in Bali, Loft Legian Hotel as the first value lifestyle hotel in Legian, Berry Biz Hotel as the first creative business hotel in Bali, even Cozy Stay as the best value for money hotel in Denpasar. And for the F&B and

Spa Group, there are Bale Udang as the first authentic prawn and bale experience in Bali and Taman Air Spa as the first day spa in Bali. Kindly visit www.avilla-hotels.com for learn Avilla more. ***

BLOOD DONATION EVENT WITH AVILLA HOSPITALITY

“Save a life, give

blood”

Bali

Visitors to Jurong Bird Park can marvel at some of Asia’s rarest and most exotic birds with the unveiling of the

Wings of Asia aviary today, in a ceremony officiated by Mr Desmond Lee, Minister of State for National Development.

With a collection of over 500 birds representing 135 species when complete, the rejuvenated aviary houses the largest diversity of birds in the park. It is home to one of the world’s most comprehensive and admired collections of Asian birds, including 24 threatened species such as the Bali mynah, Luzon bleeding-heart dove and black-winged starling. These species have been successfully hatched and raised as part of the park’s ongoing conservation breeding programmes.

Eleven of the 24 threatened species are new additions, with five being displayed for the first time in the park. These include the Javan green magpie, rufous-fronted laughingthrush and racquet- tailed parrot which are expected to arrive in the park soon. Plans are underway to kick-start a breeding programme for these birds whose

numbers are declining rapidly in the wild due to habitat loss and degradation as well as excessive trapping for the cage-bird trade. Through conservation breeding, the park hopes to maintain and safeguard a sustainable population of these birds and eventually introduce selected species back into the wild, in their native lands.

Ms Claire Chiang, Chairman, Wildlife Reserves Singapore, said: “Over the years, Jurong Bird Park has been actively involved in the conservation of Asia’s most pre-cious birds, from boosting the numbers of threatened species to working with multiple agencies, to repopulating birds in their na-tive habitats. The unveiling of Wings of Asia represents another feather in our conserva-tion cap and we hope this crown jewel will inspire visitors to appreciate, understand and protect Asia’s winged wonders.”

Previously known as the Southeast Asian Birds Aviary, the 2,600 square-meter exhibit underwent a three-month makeover which included the expansion of its smaller aviaries, theming work, refreshed educa-tional displays for visitors to learn about the

different species of birds, and an overhaul of its aviary mesh for better viewing.

Visitors can look forward to special experiences such as feeding and chit-chat sessions with keepers to learn more about the feathered residents. ***

JURONG BIRD PARK UNVEILS WINGS OF ASIA AVIARY

Bali

Le Jardin Villas was once a deep jungle immersed in the midst of the lively Seminyak district. Giant rainforest

trees were everywhere, with smaller trees, distinct plants, and thousands of undiscovered species living underneath, giving a vivid idea, how wonderfully exotic this 4.000 m2 land is. “As the 1st Rain Forest Garden Villa in Bali, the beauty of Le Jardin was truly unparalleled and breathtaking, therefore Le Jardin doesn’t want to let it be washed away by modernization,” explained Sunarga Sonny, Operational Manager of Le Jardin Villas.

With the wisdom of preserving the nature, Le Jardin split the development into several

phases, so that they were able to save some of the gigantic trees, which obviously hold an important role in protecting its environ-ment. Le Jardin also managed to involve the trees as part of the architectural design, and build around it, thus Le Jardin have a few villas with a giant tree pierced through its living room or bedroom, something that even strengthened the ‘in unity with nature’ concept.

Le Jardin Villas present the new redress up spa room along with its five stars facili-ties, such as the private pool and garden, spacious bedrooms with semi-open air bathroom, and relaxing spa treatments with Herbal Treatment as the signature treatment.

To enrich a Balinese experience in villa, choices of Balinese cakes or well known as Jajan Bali served on daily afternoon tea by friendly staffs throughout the stay, are what define Le Jardin as a whole, a peaceful and secluded haven!

Le Jardin also honored to get recogni-tion from TripAdvisor three years in a row to get Certificate of Excellence Winner (2011, 2012, 2013, and 2014) and two years in a row as the Winner Travelers’ Choice (2012, 2013) from TripAdvisor. Come to Le Jardin and be spoiled with the luxury life of a Roy-al! Make a reservation or have a question for us? Kindly contact at Tel: +62 361 730 165 or E-mail to [email protected]. ***

Le Jardin Villas, the 1st Rain Forest Garden Villa in Bali

edition january 2015

Documents