Pangkalpinang Designates Destar Point as Durian Culinary Centre

The Pangkalpinang City Government in the Bangka Belitung Islands Province has designated the Destar Point area as a durian culinary centre to serve as a tourist attraction while simultaneously driving economic growth and community welfare in the region. “We are making Destar Point a durian culinary tourism destination,” said Pangkalpinang Mayor Saparudin on Monday. He stated that Destar Point, located in an integrated complex owned by the Pangkalpinang City Government on Jalan Soekarno Hatta, is being established as a durian culinary centre to market the durian harvests of farmers on Bangka Island, which are spread across production centres in four regencies: Bangka, Central Bangka, West Bangka, and South Bangka. “It is time for Pangkalpinang City to become the marketing centre for local durians in the Bangka Belitung Islands, because many local durians are in demand, such as cumasi durian, tembaga, and others, which have an extraordinarily delicious taste,” he said. He explained that the establishment of Destar Point as a local durian culinary centre aims to ensure the public does not only recognise Alun-Alun Taman Merdeka, Bukit Dealova, Wihelmina Park, and Taman Sari as culinary tourism destinations in the provincial capital. “We will ensure that every durian season there will be a bazaar for cumasi durian and other local durians at this durian culinary centre,” he said. Destar Point also represents the city government’s effort to promote the potential of Bangka Belitung Islands Province’s local durians to a wider public, even at the national and international levels. “We want local durians like cumasi to be more widely known by the public, because they are no less excellent than durians developed in neighbouring countries such as Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, and other countries,” he said. He expressed hope that with the cumasi durian bazaar at Destar Point Pangkalpinang, which began on Sunday (5/7) and runs until Sunday (12/7), the people of Pangkalpinang City will become more familiar with the region’s distinctive local durians. “With this cumasi durian bazaar, the public will become more acquainted with local durians. We must not only know durians from neighbouring countries but not recognise our own region’s durians, which have a more delicious taste compared to other regions,” he said.