TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - Indonesia plans to turn the total solar eclipse - which is predicted to occur on March 9, 2016 - into a spectacle that is hoped to draw foreign tourists into the country.
"This is a very rare and beautiful phenomenon, and we need to be able to turn it into an event that will attract both local and foreign tourists - especially considering that such eclipses will only happen again in 250 years time," said the Coordinating Minister for Maritime Affairs, Indroyono Soesilo to the press in Jakarta on Tuesday, July 7, 2015.
It is known that residents of Palembang, Belitung, Balikpapan, Luwuk, Ternate, Sampit, Palu, Bangka, Palangkaraya, Poso and Halmahera will be able to view the total solar eclipse - while residents of Padang, Bandung, Denpasar, Kupang, Surabaya, Banjarmasin, Manado, Makassar, Ambon and Jakarta will only be able to see a partial solar eclipse due to their geographical location relative to the sun.
"The last time something like this happened over Indonesia was 30 years ago - on June 11, 1983, and a repeat should not be expected within the next 250 years," said Soesilo.
The eclipse is expected to happen in the morning as the sun rises from the horizon, said Soesilo, who also said that some countries in the Pacific Ocean will be able to see the rare phenomenon.
Soesilo said that the government will form a national committee - along with the Ministry for Tourism, the Indonesian National Institute for Outer Space Aeronautics (Lapan), the Ministry of Communications and Informations, as well as universities, the Association of Indonesian Hoteliers and Restaurateurs, state shipping company PT PELNI, and travel agencies - which will be tasked to ensure that the phenomenon will attract as much visitors as possible.
ANTARANEWS