Muntok (Antara Babel) - The West Bangka district government in Bangka-Belitung (Babel) province is making efforts to enhance connectivity between regions across Bangka Island to develop historical attractions in its bid to increase the number of tourist visits.
"Connectivity and inter-regional cooperation are needed to enhance historical tourism as special interest tours," Department of Transportation, Tourism, Culture and Information Chief Sukandi remarked here on Saturday.
He said the connectivity between regions that have the same historical attractions is necessary to facilitate travelers with special interests to choose and plan their visit.
"Muntok is one of the locations where the first President Soekarno was exiled, so the city has a great potential that can be used to attract tourists with special interests to visit," he affirmed.
In an effort to facilitate the increase in the number of visitors, he said cooperation with other regions that have relevance to Soekarno will be improved continuously.
"As a first step in this inter regional cooperation, we will invite a number of sources from Bukittinggi, Blitar, and the librarians from Bung Karno Foundation to a seminar that will be held at Indonesia Tin Museum in Muntok on September 6, 2016," Sukandi explained.
The seminar is expected to rouse public awareness of the importance of protecting the historical assets in Muntok for education, and at the same time bring in more tourists from outside the region and abroad.
West Bangka Transportation, Culture, and Toursim Department is currently developing three tourist attractions, namely Menumbing rest house, Dendang hot spring, and Batu Rakit beach to attract multitude of both domestic and foreign tourists.
Menumbing rest house had historic value because the house used to be the residence of Bung Karno and Bung Hatta when they were exiled to Bangka island during the Dutch colonial era.
There, the visitors can enjoy the original state of the house in a more comfortable atmosphere because the house has been renovated.
