The pearl festival is expected to attract three thousand visitors and generate business transactions worth Rp7 billion, an increase of 10 to 15 percent than that recorded last year.
Jakarta (ANTARA News) - The international Lombok Sumbawa Pearl Festival (LSPF) 2015 will be organized from August 18 to September 15 in Senggigi, West Lombok, West Nusa Tenggara Province (NTB).

The annual festival held since 2011 is part of the Lombok Sumbawa Cultural Month, Raseno Arya, an official of the tourism ministry, stated here, recently.

"During the festival, several activities, such as seminars, exhibitions, and cultural performances will be organized to promote tourism in NTB," he informed the press.

The LSPF is organized to promote Lombok and Sumbawa as world-class pearl producers, Head of the NTB Tourism Office Muhammad Faozal noted.

Tourism and pearl trade are expected to help boost the provinces economy and improve the welfare of the people of NTB, he added.

"Pearl should again become a tourism brand of NTB, and so, we are organizing this festival. We also hope the public would be able to identify which pearls are of good quality," he pointed out.

Indonesia is tightly competing with China in meeting the domestic demand for pearls, he emphasized.

China is able to sell pearls at lower prices, and this is affecting the pearl market in Indonesia, he noted.

"Our pearls have to compete with foreign pearls, which are sold at lower prices. Our pearls are more expensive as they are produced through a natural process. It is indeed difficult to be competitive, despite the fact that our pearls are very famous," he remarked.

Other activities to highlight the pearl festival will include art performances, Lombok-Sumbawa woven cloth expo, a creative economy expo, a cultural dialog, and an NTB Pearl Beauty Contest.

The pearl festival is expected to attract three thousand visitors and generate business transactions worth Rp7 billion, an increase of 10 to 15 percent than that recorded last year.

According to data of the Indonesian Pearl Cultivation Association (Asbumi), last years festival recorded business transactions worth Rp6.2 billion.

Lombok and Sumbawa are the main producers of pearls in Indonesia.

Around 75 percent of the total annual pearl production of 12 million tons is exported to pearl jewelry producing cities, such as New York in the United States, Tokyo in Japan, Geneva and Zurich in Switzerland, and Milan in Italy.(*)

Editor: Heru Purwanto
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