Introductory Remarks of President Joko Widodo at the Limited Meeting on the Acceleration Development of Borobudur as a National Tourist Destination , 29 January 2016

Unofficial English Translation

 Assalamu’alaikum warrahmatullahi wabarakaatuh,

Ladies and Gentlemen,

The limited cabinet meeting this afternoon will discuss measures to accelerate the development of Borobudur Temple as a national tourist destination.

As a masterpiece and a world heritage that has gained international recognition as a cultural heritage site, the Borobudur Temple must be preserved.

It has also now become a tourist destination that brings benefits to the people living nearby.

Based on the data I have received, in 2014 the number of foreign tourists visiting Borobudur rose to about 250,000 people and the number of domestic tourists visiting the temple rose to approximately 2.2 million people.

The way I see it, the tourist potential market is still very open, especially tourists from Malaysia, Taiwan, Singapore, Japan, the US, England, Hong Kong, the Netherlands, Germany, Brunei Darussalam and also not forgetting from China.

Therefore, I want the development of Borobudur be really well-prepared. The development must also be integrated among ministries and involves cooperation with the regional governments.

That includes matters related the accessibility and measures to integrate the Temple with other tourist areas such as Prambanan Temple and Sangiran, all of which are cultural heritage sites.

Furthermore, I suppose the Minister of Tourism has successfully built the country’s branding and now we can move forward.

I also think if it has been planned well, we can move forward to think of the product positioning, differentiation, and branding, the brand value, as well as the packaging, so the marketing’s job will be easier to market the product.

I also hope we can provide facilities and services with an international standard for the preparation.

I have said it many times that this time we have to build facilities with 4 stars quality. Although it is open for public, we have to maintain and control the site regularly. Those are standards we have been expecting for.

Then, we can manage to exhibit our cultures with excellent choreography involving choreographers and curators. Therefore, they do not only see the Borobudur Temple itself but also other cultural attractions.

As far as I know, there is only one performance in a year.

I do hope we can manage a performance once a week.

I think if we arrange performance from every cultural communities in the districts in Central Java and Yogyakarta, that would be more than enough.

In the future, we can expand to put on performances from every region in Indonesia.

Then, the last thing concerns the management.

We must clarify what kind of management. I also have not heard about it. However, I faintly heard that there is four managements involved.

If the ship is manned by four captains, it is usually confusing to make decisions. That is the thing we have to decide now as well as concerning the funds and other matters.

I hope that this afternoon, we can reach a decision then make planning and implement it immediately, so there will be a tangible change.

And I hope the total number of tourist will boost, not only increase.

That is my introductory remarks. (Humas Setkab) (EP/YM/Naster)