Samuel Wattimena: Tourism Villages Must Complement Each Other

Semarang (ANTARA) - Member of Commission VII of the House of Representatives (DPR) of Indonesia, Samuel Wattimena, has said that tourist villages must complement one another through their respective strengths and weaknesses.

“Tourist villages do not need to have 10 or more outstanding features; it is enough to have two or three prominent ones that are packaged correctly,” he said in Semarang on Sunday, during the event “Dissemination of Nusantara Tourism Promotion Strategy in the Digital Era: Better Known, More Visited”, organised by the Ministry of Tourism.

He said that with their respective strengths, tourist villages could fill the gaps of other tourist villages, thereby creating a spirit of mutual cooperation (gotong royong) in developing tourism.

“So, if my village excels in points one, four and seven, and another village excels in points two, three and five, then let us complement each other,” he said.

“Each tourist village has its own strengths and each has its own function. If each function works well, then hopefully this teamwork can produce maximum results,” he said.

He also highlighted that the development of tourist villages has often been driven by external pressure, whilst internal readiness has not yet been established.

“First, is the inside ready or not? Because we are often busy promoting outwardly, whilst inside we are unprepared, and in the end it backfires,” he said.