Bukittinggi will beef up services, tourist industry
Bukittinggi will beef up services, tourist industry
By Ridwan M. Sijabat
BUKITTINGGI, West Sumatra (JP): This rapidly growing mayoralty
that won the prestigious Parasamya Purnakarya Nugraha award for
successful development, will continue gearing up services in the
tourism industry to better its people's livelihood.
Mayor Armedi Agus said the local administration is
intensifying infrastructure development to support the service
and tourism industries.
"The 25,000-kilometer-square mayoralty with a population of
85,600 has tremendous potential to develop the service and
tourism industries in the coming years," he told The Jakarta Post
after receiving the Parasamya Purnakarya Nugraha award from
Minister of Manpower Abdul Latief during a ceremony here last
week.
He said local and national businessmen have been building
hotels, entertainment centers, shopping centers, handicraft
industry and travel bureaus to help develop the mayoralty's
economy.
At least 55 non-star hotels have been built in the town, he
added.
Many local people have also built home industries producing
handicrafts and traditional garments for sale to domestic and
foreign visitors.
The hilly town, situated around 90 kilometers east of the
provincial capital of Padang, is surrounded by attractive tourist
resorts. It is bordered by the Anai Valley to the west, Mount
Merapi to the east and Japanese Tunnel in the north.
The number of foreign tourists visiting the town has increased
almost 300 percent from 127,000 during the fourth Five Year Plan
(Pelita) to 498,875 during the fifth Pelita, that ended last
March.
The relative success in economic development has also
increased the townspeople's annual per capita income by around 25
percent from Rp 978,000 (US$470) in the fourth Pelita to Rp 1.2
million in the fifth. The gross regional product increased from
Rp 69.2 billion to Rp 96.8 billion in the same period.
The mayor said the tourism industry is not only important in
triggering the town's growth but also in creating new jobs.
Work hard
About the award, he said that the local people should not be
too proud because the mayoralty still lags behind in many ways.
"The people should continue working hard hand in hand with the
government to make development succeed and raise their living
standards," said Armedi, who is also an army colonel.
The mayoralty has won numerous national awards since 1989 for
its success in regional development. This year it has won the
Adipura award for the sixth time for its cleanliness drive. It
has also won several awards in the fields of cooperatives,
traffic and information campaigns.
Impressed by the numerous achievements, Minister of Manpower
Abdul Latief promised local community leaders financial aid for
local small-scale tourist entrepreneurs.
"I will approach Minang (West Sumatra) businessmen in Jakarta
about establishing partnerships with local entrepreneurs," he
said.
The minister also promised technical and financial assistance
to develop potential industries next year.