Festival exposes Papuan tourism charms

Nethy Dharma Somba, The Jakarta Post, Jayapura | Tue, 06/21/2011

The fourth Sentani Lake Festival, which commenced in Jayapura, Papua, on Monday, is expected to encourage the participation of local people and more foreign tourists.

“The festival aims to preserve cultural value, as well as promote wonderful Indonesia,” said Cultural and Tourism Ministry official M. Faried.

The festival will be highlighted with a performance of 1,040 daro dancers from 26 ethnic villages around Sentani Lake. Traditional boats, called Iso solo will be prepared as the performance stage.

A troop of 600 dancers will also present warring dances on the boats.

The opening ceremony on Monday drew up the curtain for 1,000 people who beat tifas, (traditional drums) from East Indonesia. The performance carried the message of the festival, which is themed “Sound of Tifa, Sound of Life.”

First held in 2008, the festival is reported to have been able to increase the number of visitors from home and abroad to experience the tourism appeal around Sentani.

“In 2008, foreign tourists accounted for only 85 people. It became 94 in 2009 and 104 in 2010. We are expecting more visitors this year,” Jayapura Regent Habel Melkias Suwae said.

Tourism observer Azril Azhari from Trisakti University Jakarta said Sentani had good prospects to be developed further into an interesting tourism site. The accessible transportation and hotels should be able to support the enrichment of Sentani’s tourism promotion and cultural attractions, he said.

Head of the organizing committee Ana Saway expected an increase in transaction value from the festival, which will run until Thursday.

“In 2010, the five-day festival could reach transactions worth Rp 6 billion [US$700,000]. Hopefully, that will increase this year,” he said.