Indonesia Tourism News

Wahyoe Boediwardhana , The Jakarta Post , Bondowoso, East Java

It’s 6.30 a.m. when Iwan Susanto (alias Liong Kuy Tjen), 44, opens the “Sukses” store his family owns on Jl. Teuku Umar 66, Bondowoso, a small town located 200 kilometers East of Surabaya, East Java.

In the light green shop facing Bondowoso market, about 30 piles of bamboo boxes containing sweet tape - a snack made from fermented steamed cassava - produced two days earlier, are neatly arranged and ready for sale. Read the rest of this entry »

Indonesia’s tourism potential is handicapped by a serious lack of talent and imagination both at a government administration level and from within the industry, both of which, like Indonesia itself, tends to be defensive and inward-looking.

Let’s look at some examples: The death of backpacker tourism. It is hard now to comprehend, that back in the early ‘70s, Indonesia was the world’s pioneering leader in backpacker tourism. Read the rest of this entry »

Hotli Simanjuntak , The Jakarta Post , Banda Aceh

A signboard on Jl. Mister Muhammad Hasan, the main access to provincial capital Banda Aceh, reads

“Welcome to Banda Aceh, Indonesia’s Islamic tourism destination.”

“As a place blessed with natural beauty, tourism is one of our main assets to improve our economy,” said Banda Aceh vice Mayor Illiza Saadudin. Read the rest of this entry »

Tempehh is a product of the fermentation of pulses. One of the most popular products is tempeh from soybeans. Besides its versatility and the relatively low cost, tempeh has also earned the respect of nutritionists for its high nutrition content.

I made acquaintance with tempeh when I was a small kid. Going into the kitchen looking for something edible, I saw our cook deep-frying slices of whitish stuff spiced with a mixture of yellow turmeric and something else I did not know. I asked the cook what she was frying. “Tempeh” she said and handed me a still warm slice. Read the rest of this entry »

Anak Agung Gde Agung , Jakarta

Government officials at all levels claim that Indonesia’s tourism is doing well, with each year seeing robust advancements. On the contrary, however, all the data indicate how dismally Indonesia’s tourism has done this past decade.

In the last 12 years to 2007, tourist numbers fluctuated between 4 million and 5 million visitors. The average length of stay has declined, from 10 days in 1997 to barely 8.5 days in 2008. Read the rest of this entry »

If the road to hell is paved with good intentions, then I would say the roads of Trowulan — home to the Majapahit ruins, one of Asia’s most important civilizations and archaeological ruins — is littered with one well-intentioned mishap after another.

Majapahit was a major Hindu-Buddhist kingdom that reigned from the 13th century for roughly 300 years and counted most of modern-day Indonesia and several Southeast Asian territories as part of its dominion. Its importance was chronicled by the Chinese, Portuguese and Italians. Read the rest of this entry »

This lion dance competition at a Surabaya shopping center attracted 24 teams from East Java Province.

It’s a traditional style contest and each team consists of six percussion music escorts while two create the lion. Read the rest of this entry »

Quiet beaches and stellar waves exist on Indonesia’s other Kuta on Lombok

The parched hills of south Lombok taper down to blithe bays, where waves pound tracts of uninhabited white sand. The visual contrast here is as great as the difference between Lombok’s Kuta and its namesake on Bali, where vacationers throng beaches during the day and throbbing clubs at night.

Lombok, the large hill-humped island to Bali’s east, boasts bountiful jungles and awe-inspiring volcanoes. Read the rest of this entry »

At least 11 museums in the country have stopped operating over the last year mainly due to lack of funding, an official from the Culture and Tourism Ministry says.

The ministry’s director of museums, Intan Mardiana Napitupulu, said Friday the directorate had obtained the data after conducting a feasibility study prior to the launching of its Visit Museum Year 2010 program in December last year. Read the rest of this entry »

Indonesia will take part in the biggest tourist bourse in the Netherlands, Vakantiebeurs on January 12-17, 2010.

“The Ministry of Culture and Tourism along with the Indonesian embassy in The Hague facilitate 20 tourism industries (hotels and travel agencies) will take part in Vakantiebeurs in Utrecht, the Netherlands,” Marketing Director General of the Ministry of Culture and Tourism Sapta Nirwandar said in Jakarta Thursday.

Sapta who will be leading the Indonesian delegation planned to bring along teams of artists from Maluku, West Sumatera, and East Nusa Tenggara. Read the rest of this entry »