SURABAYAPAGI.com, Yogyakarta - Yogyakarta City Tourism Office said it would try to improve the quality of tourism in the city. Yogyakarta does not want to simply pursue an increase in quantity or the number of tourist visits over the next year.
"We want to ensure that Yogyakarta will remain a magnet for tourism in DIY. Moreover, there will be many new infrastructure additions that must be used to improve the quality of tourism in Yogyakarta such as new airports," said Yogyakarta City Tourism Service Acting Director Yunianto Dwi Sutono in Yogyakarta, Wednesday (1/2).
According to him, improving the quality of tourism can be measured through the length of stay of tourists in the city of Yogyakarta. At present, the average length of stay of tourists ranges from 1.9 days, especially for domestic tourists.
In 2019, Yunianto hopes there will be an increase in the length of stay of tourists in Yogyakarta to more than two days. Because, the length of stay of tourists will provide a multiplier effect on the welfare of the people in Yogyakarta.
"Hotel and restaurant tax revenues will definitely increase. Tourists will also shop more in Yogyakarta. Of course, this will affect the improvement of peoples welfare," he said.
One effort to improve the quality of tourism in Yogyakarta is to add various tourist attractions at night. This includes improving the quality of comfortable accommodations for tourists.
Yunianto said, the strength of the supporting aspects of tourism that can be used to increase the length of stay is from culinary tourism and shopping tourism. At present, Beringharjo Market, which is the largest traditional market in the city of Yogyakarta, is open until evening, especially batik traders and souvenirs.
As for culinary tourism, continued Yunianto, there are many eating places that can be used as tourist destinations at night with a comfortable atmosphere and a unique menu. "These two things need to be strengthened because Yogyakarta does not have natural resources for natural tourism like other regions. Please, if during the day the tourists visit natural attractions in other districts in DIY, but they stay overnight and shop at Yogyakarta," he said.
Meanwhile, related to the number of tourist visits, Yunianto said, the Yogyakarta Tourism Office is targeting an increase from year to year. "The target of tourist visits in 2018 is 3.3 million people with 400,000 of whom are foreign tourists," he said. Where as in 2019, it is targeted to increase to 3.47 million and continue to increase until 2022 reaching 4 million tourists including domestic and foreign tourists. rk
