VISIT BENGKULU YEAR 2008

            Visit Indonesia Year 2008 is one of the biggest events in Indonesia. It gives a chance for every province in Indonesia to develop their tourism resources. This program will be held on every year. Each province takes it turn to hold it in their province. Once the president run it in 2008, Bengkulu took the chance and held it in 2008, known as Visit Bengkulu Year 2008.

            Bengkulu has big potential in tourism aspect. From its natural resources, it has Pantai Panjang, Tapak Paderi, Danau Mas, Sungai Suci, Air Terjun Suban, etc. From its culture, it has Tabot Festival, Dol music, more than 10 kinds of dance, etc. The tourism places now are even more beautiful than they were. Because soon after taking this chance in 2008, the government started fixing everything around of it. For Pantai Panjang, the government made the road become 4-lane, made a short bridge, built a sport centre and built a mall or market centre near by it.

            The government has made such a good work at that time, especially in promoting Bengkulu’s tourism places. First, the government made an official declaration to claim Bengkulu as a tourism city. Fortunately it sounded to almost the entire part of Indonesia. The prove is Bengkulu gained 20% more for the local income from the tourism sector in 2008. And the second one is, the government also made an official website to promote it managed by Bengkulu Tourism Department and as the result, more than 35.000 people visit and leave a nice comment in it (Source: http//visitbengkuluyear2008.gov).

            In fact, this program did not only help the government directly but also indirectly by helping the local people’s economy. It was a big success that it motivated and encouraged Bengkulu people to build a new business around of it, such as building more hotels, cafes, restaurants, small shops, etc. Started from 2008 (just when the government launched the program) business place has grown rapidly, from 2 or 3 general hotels to 6 or 7 four-star hotels.

            Unfortunately, this program is not all about success but also failure. There are some things that the government fails to think. This is not absolutely a one-year program but a continuing program. Even if it was quite success in 2008 but the government now seem does not care anymore about the facilities around of it. There are still so many broken roads to access the places, the walls and chairs are painted by a meaningless gravity¹, and the worst thing is there are so many people throw their waste from the ship and in the river that flows to the sea. Even if the people has made a criticism politely or even extremely rude, but the government seems ignore them all.

            However the success and the failure of this program depend on the government and the people in its province. The government should be brave enough to take a decision to advance it and the people should help the government by taking the action positively.