Babel Governor Receives "Best Achievement" Award

Pangkalpinang (Antara Bali) - Bangka Belitung (Babel) Governor Eko Maulana Ali is to receive  'The Best Achievement Award' 2011 for his success in making  tourism a promising sector for the  improvement of the local people's welfare.

"The award in the provinces category of the 'Pariwisata Travel Club Tourism Award' 2011 will be presented to the governor in Jakarta on Saturday," K.A. Tajuddin, the Babel provincial government's spokesman, said  here Saturday.

He said the award would be  given to the governor for his success in developing the region's tourism sector to a level where it was able to have an uplifting effect on other sectors.

Thanks to Eko's efforts, tourism's contribution to the region's coffers in the form  of taxes and non-tax revenue had risen from below two percent to over  five percent during the last three years.

"The  tourism sector in Babel is  developing  so fast that it is predicted to replace the  mining sector as the province's premier economic activity in the future," he said.

He said  this achievement should motivate local government officials and community to make  tourism the locomotive of  the regional economy in the future.

The governor would receive the award on behalf of  Babel's community that had helped to bring the region's  tourism sector to its present advanced level.

"The growth of the tourism sector is among other things indicated  by the increasing number of domestic and foreign  tourist arrivals in  Bangka or Belitung islands," he said.

Air traffic at Babel's airport had significantly increased, and so had the number and variety of hotels and visitors' lodgings  on Babel's  two main islands.

"Big national and international events or functions are now often held in Babel, adding to the region's ability to attract  tourists," he said.(*)