Island Tourism Being Belitung's Main Attraction
If you want to experience a mind-blowing island tour, Belitung would be an appropriate candidate.
The beautiful beaches and islands in Belitung have first popularized in the film Laskar Pelangi about ten years ago. The sea, beaches, and underwater attractions blend perfectly into a magnet for tourists.
Take the example of Lengkuas Island, Batu Garuda Island, and Kepayang Island. These three islands are some of the islands visited by participants of the Singapore market Familiarization Trip, Friday (29/11/2019).
To travel around the islands in Belitung, tourists need to rent a specialized boat. The price varies on its type and size.
The tour around the island usually begins with a visit to Batu Garuda Island. Tourists can take pictures using a background of stones that forms an eagle, and these photos can be taken from the forecastle of the boat for the best angle.
Furthermore, tourists can also visit Lengkuas Island. The island is called 'Lenkuas' due to the inability of the locals to pronounce 'Long House,' which is an icon of the island. Tourism on Lengkuas Island is enjoyable because, aside from having a relaxed atmosphere, tourists can take pictures to create Instagram-able photos.
Still part of Belitung, the next tourist location is the snorkeling spot located in the Lengkuas Island area. The chosen site has a depth of about 2.5 meters and has beautiful underwater views such as coral reefs along with various types of fish.
At the end of the tour, the group had lunch at a local restaurant in Kepayang Island, which is the only restaurant in the area. The food served is a typical seafood menu, including shrimps, crabs, squids, and others.
Most of the tourists are families, ranging from two to more than five members. They commonly use travel tour services to arrange their trips and tour activities in Belitung.
For locals, the development of tourism in Belitung has become a new source of revenue. These sources include the development of the tour and travel business, boat rental tours, to the increase of sellers of beach tourism equipment, including hats and plastic casings for mobile phones.
"This is what I call tourism activities affecting the economy of surrounding communities. Look at that woman, she took advantage of tourists to peddle her wares," said Sulaiman Bin Shehdek, VITO Singapore representative for Kemenparekraf in a press release received by patadaily.id.
He continued, tourism has a large economic influence on the surrounding community. For this reason, tourist arrivals to a destination must continue to be increased so that tourism activities are maintained and the economy of the people who are helped by tourism continues to improve.