Banyuwangi Sets 77 Tourism Agendas Throughout 2018

TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - Banyuwangi releases 77 tourism agendas throughout 2018, on Thursday, February 1. The release event held in the Tourism Ministry's Sapta Pesona Building was attended by Tourism Minister Arief Yahya and Banyuwangi Regent Abdullah Azwar Anas.

During the event, Minister Arief named Banyuwangi as the city or destination with the best festival. “Because the festivals held in Banyuwangi has met the cultural and commercial values, the consistency of implementation, and it has impacts on the community’s income,” said Arief. 

Banyuwangi is also the region in Indonesia that has held most festivals within a year which means every week in the city will not pass without at least one agenda.

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The festival launch event dubbed 'Top 77 Calendar of Event' has gone through a curation process. Anas said the community has previously proposed 100 agendas.

Most of the agendas are yearly events. However, there are also the new ones. One of them is Chocolate Village Festival (Festival Kampung Cokelat) which will be held at Glenmor Factory on May 12. The goal is to popularize the educational tour packages titled chocolate processing.

The Tourism Ministry has appointed three of the 77 tourism agendas that are included in the top events to be part of 100 national flagship programs. The events are Banyuwangi Ethno Carnival or Puter Kayun which will be held on July 29, International Tour de Banyuwangi Ijen on 26-29 September, and Gandrung Sewu on October 20.

Read: Banyuwangi Urged to Focus Developing Tourism

To make it easier for tourists to get information about the festival schedule, Banyuwangi launched an application called Bfest which can be downloaded via PlayStore. It features a complete schedule along with the description of the festival.

The release of Banyuwangi tourism agenda is part of the local administration to increase the number of tourist arrivals, especially foreign tourists. “This year, the target of foreign tourists is more than 100,000,” said Anas.

FRANSISCA CHRISTY ROSANA