Prabowo: Indonesia must be beautiful to attract tourists
Jakarta (ANTARA) - President Prabowo Subianto has affirmed that Indonesia must become a clean, beautiful and well-ordered country in order to enhance the appeal of the tourism sector and thereby increase employment opportunities for the public.
In his speech at the mass handover of 62,000 units of subsidised housing (KPR Rumah Subsidi) in Batang, Central Java, on Thursday, President Prabowo said the beauty of the environment is one of the main factors determining tourists’ interest in visiting a region.
Therefore, efforts to maintain cleanliness and environmental aesthetics must be a concern for all regional governments.
“Beyond cleanliness, we also need to live in beautiful surroundings, with good aesthetics. Because this is one of the ways to attract tourism. Tourism is a massive creator of jobs,” said Prabowo, as monitored via the Presidential Secretariat broadcast in Jakarta on Thursday.
The President reminded that tourists will not be interested in visiting areas filled with rubbish and poorly maintained environments.
To accelerate improvements in environmental quality, President Prabowo revealed that the government will hold a special meeting with governors and regents/mayors from across Indonesia to discuss the Indonesia ASRI (Safe, Healthy, Clean and Beautiful) programme.
President Prabowo emphasised that economic development and industrialisation must go hand in hand with efforts to preserve the environment.
According to Prabowo, Indonesia does indeed need to accelerate downstream processing and industrial development to drive national economic transformation, but environmental aspects must not be neglected.
“We must secure all of that, we must secure our energy, we must secure everything. But we must also protect our living environment,” said Prabowo.
President Prabowo hopes that the commitment to maintaining cleanliness and environmental beauty can become a joint movement across all regions, making Indonesia increasingly attractive as a tourist destination while creating more jobs through the tourism sector.