President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono took time out on Tuesday night to work as a sales associate to introduce overseas tourism operators to Indonesia’s most popular tourist destinations at the opening ceremony of the 2013 International Tourism Borse (ITB), an international tourism exhibition taking place in Berlin.
At the exhibition, Yudhoyono, who promoted the country’s tourist credentials to 5,000 people from the worldwide tourism industry said that Indonesia not only had Bali, but also many other interesting and unique places.
“They include Borobudur Temple, which is listed as a world heritage site and the Komodo National Park, which is famous as the Indonesian ‘jurrasic park’, along with many others,” he said as quoted by Antara news agency.
The President added that for tourists who loved diving and snorkeling, Indonesia had Bunaken in Manado, North Sulawesi, and the seas off North Maluku. A variety of mountains were also part of the country's landscape for those who loved to hike, he said.
“For divers, there are the paradise waters of Raja Ampat in West Papua. We also have many traditional cuisines, one of which is rendang from Padang, West Sumatra, which CNN news claimed was one of the most delicious dishes in the world. But this is just one example; we have many others, such as satay and nasi goreng,” Yudhoyono said to applause from the audience.
“Indonesia is a complete package of tourist destinations,” he added. As a joke, Yudhoyono also said that tourists in Indonesia were still allowed to wear comfortable clothes during their leisure time, such as short pants.
The President expects that by being the official partner country of the ITB Berlin 2013, Indonesia can attract 10 million tourists by 2014.
“As the biggest tourism exhibition in the world, we believe that the ITB Berlin 2013 is the right place to promote Indonesian tourism,” he said. (ebf)