Kendari, Southeast Sulawesi  (ANTARA News) - Around 20,000 domestic and foreign tourists visited Wakatobi district, Southeast Sulawesi Province, during 2010.

"The number of tourist arrivals this year significantly increases, from only 5,000 in the previous year," Wakatobi District Head Hugua said here Friday.

Most of the foreign tourists came from European countries such as Britain, France, the Netherlands and Switzerland, he said.

"The foreign tourists were attracted to visit Wakatobi thanks to our tourism promotion efforts, including through CDs featuring Wakatobi`s beautiful under the sea scenery, brochures, leaflets, and advertisement on the electronic and print media," he said.

Around 25,000 to 30,000 tourists are expected to visit Wakatobi in 2011.

"In 2011, Wakatobi and Belitung will jointly host Sail Indonesia 2011. Therefore, we expected around 20,000 to 30,000 tourists will visit Wakatobi in 2011," he said.

Southeast Sulawesi Marine and Fisheries Agency (DKP) will allocate Rp2.7 billion from regional budget (APBD) to support Sail Wakatobi-Belitung 2011.

The Wakatobi District head received Tourism Award 2010 from Culture and Tourism Minister Jero Wacik in Jakarta last Monday (Dec 27).

Wakatobi is one of the protected marine national parks in Indonesia. At least 1.3 million hectares of Wakatobi are part of Wakatobi National Marine Park with Karang Mari Mabo, Onemobaa, Pulau Hioga, and Pantai Patuno diving sites.

The underwater life of Wakatobi is rich, with at least 750 species of coral reefs and 900 species of fish.
(Uu.F001/P003)

Editor: Priyambodo RH

COPYRIGHT © 2010

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