Foreign Tourists Start Arriving for Lake Sentani Festival

JAKARTA, KOMPAS.com - Foreign tourists continue to arrive in Papua’s provincial capital of Jayapura for the Lake Sentani Festival that will take place in the Kalkhote resort on June 19-23, 2011.

It was reported from Jayapura on Thursday, many of the foreign visitors to the festival were over the past few days seen strolling in the city’s streets.

The number of foreign tourists arrivals in Jayapura for the festival is expected to continue to increase until the event kicks off on Sunday, June 19, 2011. Among the foreign visitors to the festival were a couple, Gatsonides and his wife, who arrived in Jayapura from the Netherlands three days ago.

"We heard about Lake Sentani cultural festival and immediately got interested in attending it to know what it would be really like," Gatsonides said in Jayapura on Thursday.

The Dutch tourist who arrived in Jayapura for the first time in his life admitted he was really interested in Papua traditional culture, especially of Jayapura district and its natural beauty. Lake Sentani Festival has been held every June 19-23 since 2008 in the Kalkhote tourist resort on the Sentani lakeside in Jayapura district, Papua.

"Because of Lake Sentani Tour Package, many foreign tourists are expected to visit Papua this year to enjoy the natural beauty of the lake in Sentani, Jayapura district," Ana Sawai said.

She said every day many foreign tourists visit Lake Sentani and it surrounding villages. The foreign tourists, according to her, actually wanted to visit Wamena but because of vigorous promotion about Lake Sentani Tour Package, they came first to Sentani to visit tourist villages such as Tablanusu, Bukisi, and Pantai Amay before proceeding to Wamena.

Themed "Love, Peace, and Harmony," the festival to feature various art and cultural activities and attractions will attract as many domestic and foreign tourists as possible. Meanwhile, Jayapura district head Habel Melkias Suwae said this year’s event of Lake Sentani Festival was the fourth since its first one held in 2008 as a year-long gateway for the tourism industry in the Indonesian easternmost province of Papua.

In 2008, the Papua Tourism Office organized the first Lake Sentani Festival from July 16 to 19 that year to support the annual Lembah Baliem Festival in Jayawijaya district. Since then, the Lake Sentani Festival was held as an effort to protect the culture of Jayapura district, especially at the areas around Lake Sentani.

Located some 75 meters above sea level and surrounded by beautiful hills, the 3.63-hectare Lake Sentani is a perfect place for fishing, swimming, canoeing, skiing, and other kinds of water sports. Habel said the tourism tourism would strengthen the identity of the people of Papua, preserve their traditional and cultural values, step up their economy.