The Ngrancah waterfall in Ngleri village, along with the pristine beaches of Gesing, Ngrenehan, Ngobaran, Baron, Krakal, Sundak, Watu Lawang, Drini and Sepanjang are among the tourist attractions in Gunug Kidul District.
Jakarta (ANTARA News) - Blessed with many natural and marine tourist attractions, Gunung Kidul, in the special autonomous province of Yogyakarta, is making every effort to develop the district into a national and international tourist destination.

The Ngrancah waterfall in Ngleri village, along with the pristine beaches of Gesing, Ngrenehan, Ngobaran, Baron, Krakal, Sundak, Watu Lawang, Drini and Sepanjang are among the tourist attractions in Gunug Kidul District.

At a seminar on the "Development of Gunung Kidul Tourism Industry," initiated by the alumni of Kolose de Brito Senior High School in Yogyakarta on Friday, Bank Central Asia (BCA) Director Suwignyo Budiman called for government support for the development of Gunung Kidul tourism industry.

Budiman called on the government to cooperate with private parties in developing and improving the tourism potential in Gunung Kidul.

Speaking at the seminar, Budiman said that BCA was providing support to the efforts for the development of tourism industry in numerous areas in Indonesia, including Gunung Kidul District.

According to him, the support was accomplished in the form of the seminar to explore ideas for developing strategies and initiatives to stimulate tourism investment climate in Gunung Kidul.

"Thus, in the future, Gunung Kidul is expected to be one of the important national and international tourist destinations," Budiman remarked.

Currently, Yogyakarta has actually become the largest tourist destination in Indonesia after Bali and the government must focus on enhancing tourist visits, he said.

Budiman added that the government and all parties must work together to develop the attractions and entertainments that can make tourists stay longer in Yogyakarta, especially in Gunung Kidul.

The district is endowed with many beautiful beaches such as Kukup, Indrayanti, Wedi Ombo, Watu Kodok, Sadranan, Jogan and Siung, and most of these beaches still require large investments both from the government for infrastructure as well as from the private sector for the development of hotels, resorts, golf courses and restaurants.

In light of this, the Gunung Kidul district government is making efforts to promote and develop the districts tourist spots under the framework of its tourism investment development mission.

The mission is focused on natural tourism, village tourism, cultural tourism and special-interest tourism.

In addition, the local government will also step up efforts to provide improved infrastructure facilities at tourist attractions in the district.

In 2013, the local government built and renovated various supporting infrastructure facilities such as souvenir shops and restaurants.

Gunung Kidul also has some popular tourism villages such as Putat, Nglanggeran, Bendung, Ngeposari, Beji, Bleberan, Umbulrejo and Kemadang.

In a bid to develop these tourism villages, officials from the Gunung Kidul Culture and Tourism office will provide English training and tourism management training lessons to the villagers.

In a week during the 2016 Lebaran holidays, around 250 thousand tourists visited numerous tourist attractions in Gunung Kidul District, according to local Culture and Tourism Office spokesman Hary Sukmono.

He explained that based on reports received from several tourist attractions, the total revenue generated from 250 thousand tourists visiting the areas amounted to Rp1.57 billion.

However, the spokesman acknowledged that the number of tourists visiting Gunung Kidul during the Lebaran holidays in 2016 had dropped slightly from 362 thousand during the same period in 2015.

Sukmono explained that until the end of December 2015, more than 2.6 million domestic and foreign tourists had visited all the tourist attractions in Gunung Kidul District.

He said the number of tourists visiting Gunung Kiduls tourist attractions last year had exceeded 2.6 million, with the total local revenue reaching Rp20.9 billion.

The target of tourist arrivals in Gunung Kidul District in 2016 is set to be more than 2.6 million people, and the local culture and tourism office will continue to innovate to welcome tourists visiting the district, he noted.

As one of the leading cultural centers in the Indonesian island of Java, Yogyakarta is blessed with many beautiful villages in every district that need continuous promotion.

In an effort to attract more local and foreign tourists, the regional and provincial governments continue to develop and promote the tourism villages.

As many as 17 villages in Yogyakarta showcased their potentials at the Rural Tourism Exhibition that was held around Vredeburg Fort area from September 2 to 4, 2016.

Yogyakarta Culture and Tourism Department Chief for tourism development and promotion Budi Santoso has expressed his hope that the exhibition would be a platform for tourism villages to demonstrate their potential in order to be better known by both local and foreign tourists.

Every district in Yogyakarta has a number of tourist villages with huge potential to become a new tourist destination, especially for tourists with special interest, whose number has increased over time.

Many foreign tourists with special interest do not just want to visit the tourism villages, but they also want to feel and experience firsthand the existing cultures and traditions, because of their admiration for unique, specific and authentic materials.

In the city of Yogyakarta alone, tourism villages that have been well-developed are the villages of Dipowinatan, Cokrodiningratan and Purbayan, which continue to attract tourists from Czech Republic, Japan, the United States and other countries.(*)

Reporter: Otniel Tamindael
Editor: Heru Purwanto
Copyright © ANTARA 2016