"From this potential, 60 million Buddhists are in Southeast Asia," he observed after attending the National Coordination Meeting for the Development of Five Super-Priority Tourism Destinations at Plataran Hotel Borobudur, Magelang, on Friday.
He said that previously at the top of the Borobudur temple, there was a three-tiered catra.
"Now it is stored in the Magelang cultural museum. If we put it back, Borobudur will become even more majestic and become a religious tourism destination for Buddhists," Qoumas remarked.
During the same meeting, Tourism and Creative Economy Minister Sandiaga Salahuddin Uno informed that the polishing of the Borobudur Temple is running according to target, and the number of foreign tourist visits has been above the target as well.
Uno said that tourist destinations in Indonesia have continued to have a positive impact on job creation. It can be gauged from the total Buddhist population in Asia that Borobudur, especially, could attract around two million spiritual tourist visits, with a total tourism revenue target of around US$2 billion.
"This will be a breakthrough to open up business opportunities and employment opportunities for the people in Magelang, Yogyakarta, and Central Java province, in general," he disclosed.
The meeting was also attended by Coordinating Minister for Maritime Affairs and Investment, Luhut Binsar Pandjaitan; Deputy Health Minister Dante Saksono Harbuwono; Minister of Agrarian Affairs and Spatial Planning (ATR)/Head of National Land Agency (BPN), Hadi Tjahjanto; Administrative and Bureaucratic Reform (PAN-RB) Minister Abdullah Azwar Anas; and Governor of Central Java, Ganjar Pranowo.
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Translator: Heru Suyitno, Resinta S
Editor: Anton Santoso
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