Foreign Tourists Flock Karimun Islands During Christmas Holidays

TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - A substantial amount of tourists from Malaysia and Singapore often visit the Karimun islands in Riau during the Christmas and New Year`s holiday.

“Plenty of foreign tourists visit Karimun in December, the number is also expected to grow,” said the Department of Tourism and Culture Official Benny Yudhistira at Tanjung Balai Karimun yesterday on Tuesday, December 26.

According to Benny, the large number of foreign visitors to the Karimun islands is because of the long duration holiday and its strategic location for Singaporean and Malaysian tourists. “Karimun is strategic and geographically close in proximity,” said Benny.

Other than visiting tourist destinations, he explained, most foreign tourists also visit religious places, conduct their pilgrimage, and some have been known to visit their relatives.

Karimun has an emotional connection with Singapore and Malaysia, Benny explained that most residents of Karimun have family members in the two countries mentioned above. “It isn’t surprising that the majority of Karimun residents have passports, which is used to visit their family members there,” he said.

Last year, 9,765 foreign tourists visited Karimun. Benny is optimistic that the number will increase for 2017 even though the Local Officials are not holding any special event in Karimun.

ANTARA