East Kalimantan has unique tourist industry

East Kalimantan has unique tourist industry

BALIKPAPAN, East Kalimantan (JP): Adventure, ecotourism, historical cultures and natural resources are East Kalimantan's main attractions.

Formerly known as Borneo, Kalimantan is the third largest island in the world and the native land of the Dayaks, whose main tribes settle beside the rivers of one the world's largest tropical rain forests.

East Kalimantan, which serves as a gateway to other destinations on the island, is the most advanced province of the island in terms of industrialization and tourism development.

With a population of around three million people, the province's economic condition is growing fast. Various projects such as oil exploration in Balikpapan and forestry in several regencies have contributed to the province's economic development.

The province consists of four regencies: Kutai with the capital Tenggarong; Pasir with the capital Tanah Grogot, Berau with the capital Tanjung Redeb and Bulungan with the capital Tanjung Selor.

There are many tourist destinations in East Kalimantan, famous for its natural wilderness and historical sites. Approximately 80 percent of the province's total area of 211,440 square kilometers consists of tropical rain forests in which live a large number of rare flora and fauna.

The life of the indigenous tribe, the Dayaks, holds the island's valuable cultural heritage. The Dayaks still preserve their rituals, arts and cultural traditions.

The 920-kilometer Mahakam River is located in this province. Beginning from Gunung Batu Tiban, it separates the Kutai Regency into two parts. Sailing up the Mahakam River to the foot of Muller mountain, near the Malaysian border, one can still see traditional Dayak settlements, with their famed long houses.

There are several other places in the hinterlands which can be visited. Tenggarong, once ruled by a Hindu Kingdom established around the 6th and 7th century, has now become the province's important historical site.

The former palace of the Kutai Kertanegara Kingdom, located beside the Mahakam river, has been transformed into the Mulawarman Museum. Mulawarman was the most powerful king of the Kutai Kertanagara. The museum has an immense collection of old royal collection including excellent antique ceramics.

Conference

Balikpapan, as well as several other cities in the province, will host the seventh Pacific Asia Travel Association's Adventure Travel and Ecotourism Conference and Mart starting tomorrow.

The annual event, to be held Jan. 15-18, will bring together adventure travel and ecotour specialists, as well as sellers and buyers, to discuss and address current and future issues.

The conference, with the theme Nature and adventure tourism: Megatrend or niche?, will further explore the possibility of promoting 'green tourism'.

The Balikpapan Sepinggan airport has just been expanded to accommodate DC-10 aircraft. A number of foreign airlines, including Royal Brunei, have also opened direct flights to Sepinggan, which records the busiest air traffic after Soekarno- Hatta airport in Jakarta.

East Kalimantan attracted some 40,000 foreign visitors in 1993 with lengths of stay reaching nine days, while each visitor expended about US$90 per day. Though amounting to only 1.3 percent of total foreign tourist visiting Indonesia in 1993, the province has been successful in drawing both domestic and foreign visitors. Indonesia received 3.4 million tourist in 1993, with average lengths of stay being 11 days.

Chief of the province's Ministry of Tourism, Post and Telecommunications office, Ibnu Darmawan, told The Jakarta Post recently that the city becomes an ideal location for the travel association's program as it is located in an area which offers virgin forests with a wide range of flora and fauna, beaches, cave rivers, rapids and lakes.

The province has also become a Worldwide Fund for Nature- supported Orangutan Reserve and Research Center.

"Facilities and infrastructures in the city have been up- graded, including the construction of star-rated hotels and public transportation systems," Ibnu explained.

There are currently 12 star-rated hotels in Balikpapan in addition to 120 melati (non-star) rated hotels," Ibnu said.

Ibnu said that conference participants will be invited to visit some of the major tourist destinations, including Tenggarong, Tanjung Isuy and Lake Semayang.

Tanjung Isuy, 300 kilometers from the province's capital Samarinda, is populated by the Dayak Benuaq who faithfully preserve their unique culture and customs, including the use of long-houses called lamin.

Another cultural tradition in the province is the Adat Erau (Erau Festival) which will be held Jan. 16-21.

Ibnu said that the festival is usually held, annually, in September, but it was postponed until this month to coincide with the travel association's ecotourism conference.

Erau is a cultural tradition that has been held since the time of the Kutai Empire, which involves customs, ritual ceremonies and traditional festivals.

Erau was originally held at an inauguration of a king or princess in which all tribes carried out series of ritual ceremonies lasting 40 nights. At present, the festival is only continued as an effort to maintain traditions. Although the content of the ceremony has changed very little, it is now shorten to last only seven days. The ceremony is now intended to commemorate the anniversary of Tenggarong's regency, as the former capital of the Kutai Kingdom.

The province which has a rich natural and cultural heritage will likely become one of Indonesia's most potential ecotourism centers, provided that all parties work hard to achieve the target. (icn)