VOI - Voice of Indonesia | RRI - Radio Republik Indonesia

 A woman weaving southeast sulawesi traditional cloth - 

The Ministry of Tourism and Creative Economy/Tourism and Creative Economy Agency is ready to provide support for the development of tourism and the creative economy in Southeast Sulawesi within the framework of creating quality and sustainable tourism so that it can provide great benefits to the community.

Especially in supporting economic revival by creating jobs through the creative economy sector.

Minister of Tourism and Creative Economy/Head of the Tourism and Creative Economy Agency Sandiaga Salahuddin Uno when receiving an audience for the Forkopimda of the Southeast Sulawesi Provincial Government, Friday (13/5/2022), said Southeast Sulawesi is known for its variety of natural tourist attractions. One of the best known is marine tourism in Wakatobi.

"But of course Southeast Sulawesi is also rich in historical tourism and also the creative economy. We will certainly support it," said Menparekraf Sandiaga Uno.

Some of the support that has been prepared by the Ministry of Tourism and Creative Economy is support for organizing events in Southeast Sulawesi which are included in the Kharisma Event Nusantara (KEN) 2022. Namely the Tangkeno Festival in Bombana Regency, Kaghati Festival in Muna Regency, and the Wakatobi Wonderful Festival and Expo (WAFE) in Wakatobi Regency.

"In Southeast Sulawesi, there are also two tourist villages that are included in the top 50 of ADWI (Indonesian Tourism Village Award) 2022, namely the Limbo Wolio Tourism Village (Baubau City) and the Moramo Sumbersari Waterfall Tourism Village (South Konawe Regency)," said Sandiaga.

The Ministry of Tourism and Creative Economy plans to also provide support for the Labengki Festival in North Konawe.

Menparekraf Sandiaga encouraged the Southeast Sulawesi Provincial Government to maximize the Special Allocation Fund (DAK) prepared by the government for tourism development.

Southeast Sulawesi Governor H. Ali Mazi, who was present online, said that his party is currently also preparing various events in the series of commemorations of the 58th Southeast Sulawesi Anniversary. One of them is Tapak Tilas, a national hero from Southeast Sulawesi, namely Oputa Yi Koo or Sultan Himayatuddin Muhammad Saydi.

"We really hope that the Minister will come at the event later," said Ali Mazi.

According to a release received by Voice of Indonesia on Friday (13/05/22), Head of the Southeast Sulawesi Tourism Office, Belli Hari Tombili, explained that Oputa Yi Koo is a hero from Southeast Sulawesi who has been designated a national hero in 2019. One of the aims of this event is to further introduce Oputa Yi Koo's struggle to the younger generation.

Oputa Yi Koo was the 20th (1752-1755) and 23 (1760-1763) Sultan of Buton with the title of Sultanate of Himayatuddin Muhammad Saydi

"At the Footprint event, the traces of Oputa Yi Koo's guerrilla struggle will be traced for approximately 56 kilometers from Buton Regency to the Peak of Mount Siopantina. Later, the Footprint will last for two days," said Belli Hari.

Apart from Tapak Tilas, in the series of the 58th Southeast Sulawesi Anniversary which will take place from 22 to 28 May 2022, various other events will also be filled. Such as scrutiny of struggle, story telling competitions, MSME exhibitions, video contest competitions, vlogs, photos, and boat decoration competitions.

"There will also be a 5-kilometer run in the tourist village of Limbo Wolio," said Belli.

The running event will provide an interesting experience because the participants will run through a tourist village located within the Buton Fort Palace (Wolio Fort) Baubau City.

Regarding the development of tourist villages, Belli explained that his party this year will develop 18 tourist villages in North Sulawesi. Previously, the 18 tourist villages were included in the top 500 ADWI 2022.

"We have also taken a policy to organize activities such as training to be held in tourist villages. Such as the coordination meeting for the development of the Southeast Sulawesi tourism village some time ago that we held in one of the tourist villages in Buton Regency," said Belli.

"As a result, the circulation of money for the Regency scale is quite large. Imagine that people come there to stay at a homestay, eat there, learn about the culture, then the creative industry, souvenirs, everything is alive. So in the future we will take a policy on activities such as training, workshops , seminars, we direct them to be held in tourist villages. People in Southeast Sulawesi now have a fever for tourist villages," said Belli//VOI