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Mon, 25 Jul 1994

JP/Bintan to accommodate one million visitors

Bintan to accommodate one million visitors

JAKARTA (JP): The development of tourism facilities will enable Bintan Island in Riau, currently inhabited by some 100,000 people, to accommodate up to one million visitors annually in the year 2000, a minister says.

"There are currently four hotel projects under construction. A number of hotels will also be expanded in the coming years," Coordinating Minister for Industry and Trade Hartarto told reporters after meeting with President Soeharto here Saturday.

He said the 120-hectare Bintan is developed as a resort and industrial zone within the Indonesia-Malaysia-Singapore growth triangle, linking the Indonesian province of Riau, Singapore and the Malaysian state of Johor.

The resorts on the island will include Bintan Lagoon Beach & Golf Resort and Banyan Tree Bintan Resort. Salim Group of Indonesia and Kuok Group of Singapore also plan to develop a five star hotel along the Pasir Panjang beach.

The number of foreign visitors arriving in Indonesia during the first five months of this year rose by 21.5 percent to more than 1.25 million people over the same period last year. Last year, the number of foreign arrivals increased by 11 percent to 3.4 million people from 3.06 million in 1992.

Some 3.9 million foreigners are expected to visit Indonesia this year. In the last year of the sixth Five Year Development Plan (Repelita VI) period, the country expects to receive about six million to 6.5 million foreign visitors.

"To attract more foreign visitors through Bintan, there is also a cultural center being prepared on the island," Hartarto said, adding that a ferry terminal at Teluk Sebung has began its operation.

Some facilities on the island were dedicated last Tuesday by ministers from Indonesia and Singapore.

Hartarto said most of the projects developed on Bintan are 60 percent owned by Indonesia and 40 percent by Singapore."

He also said that Karimun Island, also in Riau, will also have a dock yard and supporting facilities, which will be controlled by a Singapore-Indonesia consortium.(icn)