Posted on May, 26 2019

Inhabited by three countries, Brunei Darussalam, Indonesia and Malaysia, the Heart of Borneo Initiative is one of the efforts to preserve the natural and cultural ecosystems that are on Borneo Island.

In conjunction with Visit the Heart of Borneo, a multi-year campaign to promote the Heart of Borneo (HoB) as ONE ecotourism destination, including to increase the local economy, the number of tourists and capacity building for tourism actors in Kalimantan, Ministry of Tourism of the Republic of Indonesia launched the campaign on Tuesday, March 19, 2019 in Sapta Pesona Building, Ministry of Tourism of the Republic of Indonesia.

The campaign launching and press conference were attended by Deputy Marketing Development I, Ministry of Tourism, Rizky Handayani Mustafa, M.Sc, Leni Rosilyn representative from the Coordinating Ministry for Economic Affairs as Chair of the HoB National Working Group in Indonesia, Dr. Ir. H. Irianto Lambrie, M.M., Governor of North Kalimantan Province and Rizal Malik, Chief Executive Officer, WWF-Indonesia.

On this occasion, Rizky Handayani mentioned that all this time, the impression of a trip to Borneo with its ecotourism featuring the iconic Dayak culture and the imagined tropical forests of Sarawak and Sabah in Malaysia and Brunei Darussalam. This will be a challenge to take advantage of the momentum of Visit the Heart of Borneo as a form of awakening Kalimantan tourism. Ecotourism is a tourism product that is very applicable for Kalimantan related to its nature and local communities.

The event, which was moderated by Ary Suhandi from the Indonesia Ecotourism Network (INDECON) who also a Chair of the Green Ecotourism HoB Task Force, was very interesting. Cross-border tourism in Kalimantan knows no time because the access nowadays is much easier. In West Kalimantan province, local government has strengthened several National Border Crossing Posts (PLBN) as tourist entrances.

By launching of the Visit the Heart of Borneo campaign, it is hoped that tour operators who were attending from Jakarta and Kalimantan are expected to be able to promote the rich biodiversity in the Heart of Borneo and increase the number of tourists on the border.

As a follow up to the campaign, the Ministry of Tourism also held a Focus Group Discussion on the River-Based Ecotourism Products Development that was held in Palangkaraya, Central Kalimantan.

Borneo is famous for the Thousand River Island, considering many rivers that flow on this island, has a very promising ecotourism potential. Rivers that spread from West Kalimantan to the border of North Kalimantan have enchantment and beauty that needs to be developed.

Minister of Tourism, Arief Yahya stressed that the aim of the activity was to introduce and develop river-based ecotourism products in Kalimantan, as well as aligning with relevant stakeholders and arranging the scheme of the river ecotourism travel product.

This event is expected to increase the seriousness of the stakeholders to work together in developing ecotourism that has a concept that is interrelated and strengthens. Thus, the concept can advance national tourism and contribute significantly to the country's foreign exchange, especially the economy in the Heart of Borneo.