"The PDTT Ministry has launched the competition, where tourism villages that are managed by BUMDes (village-owned enterprises) from across Indonesia can compete to win a prize of Rp1 billion (US$65 thousand) for several categories," he informed after inaugurating the contest in Pariaman on Friday.
When the competition concludes in the second week of November, several participating villages will be named as the best tourism villages, he said.
Minister Iskandar added that the competition is being held with the goal of encouraging villages to optimize their tourism potential, so they can stimulate their economic growth, which in turn, is expected to have an impact on national economic growth.
"Praise be to God, Indonesia's economic growth rate has reached 5.17 percent. Internationally, this is a remarkable achievement," he pointed out.
Furthermore, he said that Indonesia, as chair of the Association of the Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) this year, is organizing the competition to demonstrate its method of empowering tourism villages to other member countries from the bloc.
During the launching ceremony, he also expressed his keenness to witness BUMDes developing Indonesia's tourism villages by highlighting the villages' natural potential.
Meanwhile, Genius Umar, Pariaman Mayor, affirmed that his government is optimistic about Apar village winning the competition as he believes that its BUMDes has been showing staunch commitment to optimizing the beauty of the village.
"I believe that the designation of Apar as the host (for the launching ceremony) indicates that we have received an early assessment. Now, it is a matter of how to win the competition," he remarked.
The mayor then expressed the hope that Minister Iskandar's visit to Pariaman will result in a positive impact on the city's tourism and economy.
It is also hoped that the minister's visit to Apar village would encourage its residents, government, and BUMDes to invest even greater efforts to boost the quality of the tourism sector in their village, he added.
Translator: Rahmatul Laila, Tegar Nurfitra
Editor: Azis Kurmala
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