TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - The number of tourist destinations that people can visit in Yogyakarta has increased by 88 locations in 2014. Huda Tri Yudiana, former special committee member of Yogyakarta's Regional Representatives Assembly, the new tourist sites are scattered throughout the province, offering a variety of objects to view and activities to do.
One of them, he said, is a nature spot located in Gunungkidul. The area encompassed several caves, underground streams, and beaches. "There are also tourist villages in other regencies," he said yesterday.
Sadly, the profit potential of most of these new tourist attractions' is faced with infrastructure hurdles. Not only are there far from city centers, the roads leading to these locations are narrow. "The road linking one shore to another is very small," Huda said.
As a province that considerably relies on its services sector, Yogyakarta should ideally develop these new tourist sites to open jobs. With new labors absorbed, Yogyakarta's poverty rate—currently at 15 percent—could go down. With government support, Huda said, tourist attractions could be turned into the province's source for income that will improve the locals' welfare.
ANANG ZAKARIA