Raja Ampat Plans Tourism City to Boost Regional Economy and Revenue
Raja Ampat Regent Orideko Burdam has announced that the development of a tourism city is a key solution to boost the region’s economic growth and increase locally-generated revenue (PAD). He explained that the initiative stems from the need for a new economic growth centre, as the region has struggled to accommodate investment in the tourism sector.
“We want to have a tourism city. If we continue developing with our current situation, we will keep losing out in tourism development,” Orideko said after a meeting with a member of the Regional Representative Council (DPD RI) in Sorong.
According to him, many investors have been interested in investing in Raja Ampat’s tourism sector. However, these investments have often been hampered by the lack of a specifically prepared area for tourism facility development. “Today, many investors are coming for tourism, but there is no location. Therefore, we are preparing an area. Investors are welcome to build there, and we will make that area a tourism city,” he stated.
He expressed hope that the area would become a hub for economic turnover for the community, while the regional government could boost PAD from taxes and levies. He added that efforts to increase PAD have been difficult because most of Raja Ampat’s territory, both sea and land, is a conservation area. “It is difficult for us to target PAD because the sea is a conservation area, and the land is also a conservation area. We cannot do much, so we are focusing on one area to be made a tourism city so that we can collect taxes and levies from there,” he explained.
Regarding the realisation of the project, Orideko said it is still in the study phase. The Raja Ampat Regency Government has partnered with Brawijaya University in Malang to conduct a feasibility study. “We are still in the study phase. We collaborated with Brawijaya University Malang to conduct the study. If the results meet the requirements, we will proceed,” he said. The tourism city is planned to be built in Kampung Wawiyai, South Waigeo District, Raja Ampat Regency.