The Ministry of Tourism and Creative Economy is committed to optimizing more tourism attractions outside the Komodo National Park to attract domestic and foreign tourists to Labuan Bajo, West Manggarai, East Nusa Tenggara.

“The ministry’s task now is to promote and develop new (tourism) destinations to offer more alternatives and activities beyond the Komodo National Park in Labuan Bajo,” President Director of the Executive Agency for the Labuan Bajo Flores Authority (BPOLBF) Shana Fatina stated here, Friday.

Fatina said that to optimize tourism potentials in the province’s Flores, Alor, Lembata, and Bima regions — abbreviated as Floratama — the agency has offered new family trip packages to travel agents and operators to introduce tourists to new products, such as weaving, conservation, and religious tourism.

With the existing database on the Floratama region, the agency will provide recommendations on the tourism pattern, tourism attraction choice, best visit time, and routes to the tourism attraction, the president director explained.

Apart from introducing new tourism potentials, the BPOLBF also encouraged travel agencies and operators to participate in various training programmes to connect them with tourism villages and allow them to offer visits to tourism villages to tourists, she noted.

Fatina highlighted that as Labuan Bajo has been developed as the gateway and hub for East Nusa Tenggara’s tourism, the government is exerting efforts to bolster domestic and foreign tourist visits to the region.

“Hence, we will no longer be confined to the thought that Komodo National Park is the only tourism destination in Labuan Bajo,” she expounded.

The president director pointed out that the ministry had also supported the Golo Koe Festival organized by the Roman Catholic Diocese of Ruteng on August 8-15.

Various cultural parades and musical concerts, religious events, and congregational prayers will take place during the Golo Koe Festival, she stated.

“This shows that Labuan Bajo has an outstanding culture, thereby making it the Vatican of Indonesia. I believe that tourism not only belongs to a particular group but is also the soul of West Manggarai’s residents,” Fatina remarked.

Source: Antara News