The capital of South Kalimantan looks to its traditional life sources and riverine culture to enhance its tourism appeal for visitors, both domestic and international.
Banjarmasin, the capital city of South Kalimantan Province, is putting into motion a tourism plan centred on highlighting its cultural icons, activities and festivals and making them more accessible to visitors.
Known as the City of a Thousand Rivers, Banjarmasin is home to floating markets such as Kuin Astuary on Barito River and Lok Baintan (outside the city in Banjar Regency) on Martapura River.
Describing the significance of its rivers, Ikhsan El Haque, head of Banjarmasin Culture and Tourism Office said: “Although the city is well connected with roads, the rivers continue to play an important role in the people’s daily life. Cruising the rivers on a a klotok (traditional motor boats), travellers will be able to see the locals’ daily routines, including kids navigating their own jukung (traditional boats) to go to school.”
At dawn, women vendors called acil-acil row their jukung to the market to sell vegetables, fruits and local snacks, before moving to the riverside to sell their produce door to door at mid-morning.
“The floating market is a unique attraction, but travellers need to wake up very early (to visit during the opening hours). Therefore, we took the initiative to bring the (concept) to town for visitors to enjoy,” said Ikhsan. The city government has created a market space near the Menara Pandang Banjarmasin (viewing tower) for this purpose.
While lauding the intention behind this, managing director of Borneo Indo Tours Aloysius Purwadi thinks the recreated market experience compromises on authenticity.
Referencing an abandoned government plan from years back, he said a better solution was to build canals in the Japri Zamzam area in the city to open it up to Barito River, the largest and longest river in Kalimantan.
“This way, acil-acil from the Barito river can get to the city and travellers can shop from their klotok without having to wake up very early,” he said.
Aside from river attractions, the city also offers regular festivals and performances in Menara Pandang, which attract thousands of visitors on the weekends.
“We organised a Sasirangan (tie-and-dye cloth with traditional Banjar tribe motifs) festival and in September will organise Kemilau Banjarmasin Bungas (Beautiful Banjarmasin) Festival near the Menara Pandang to celebrate the city’s anniversary,” Ikhsan shared.
Other activities include tracing the history of the Banjar Kingdom and how Islam was introduced to the Banjar society, or visiting the Sasirangan village to learn about the different traditional motifs.
Hotels in the city also play a role in making these cultural events more accessible to tourists. Sugiharto, general manager of Mercure Banjarmasin, said: “Most hotels here create seasonal packages (in conjunction with) events such as Floating Market Festival and Jukung Parade Festival.”
While the tourism office targets the domestic market, citing good connectivity from Jakarta, Surabaya, Bandung and Jogjakarta, Purwadi said the destination is now ready to attract longhaul travellers.
“The European and US travellers look for natural and authentic travel programmes, which South Kalimantan has. Cruising the rivers on bamboo rafts, visiting areas where buffalows can be spotted are unique and interest these tourists.”
Domestic travellers, on the other hand, seek star-rated hotels, shopping and culinary attractions, areas where the destination faces strong competition from Jogjakarta, Bandung and other big cities in Indonesia, he said.
Purwadi added that the destination could benefit from direct links with Singapore by stepping up overseas promotions.
Others, like Winny Tendean, general manager of Novotel Banjarbaru Airport, urge a stronger focus on tourism. He remarked: “Like elsewhere in the country, the government and all stakeholders need to be committed and consistent with the products and activities to lure leisure travellers and follow with promotions.”
