INDONESIAN LOMBOK ISLAND BECOMES WORLD’S BEST HALAL HONEYMOON DESTINATION

Jakarta, 8 Muharram 1437/21 October 2015 (MINA) – Lombok, West Nusa Tenggara was elected as the world’s best destination for Honeymoon and Halal Tourism.

Lombok won two awards at the event of World Halal Travel Awards 2015 on October 21, 2015 at the Emirates Place, Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates.

Lombok as the World’s Best Halal Honeymoon, beating other cities; Abu Dhabi, UAE, Antalya-Turkey, Krabi-Thailand and Kuala Lumpur-Malaysia. The Chairman of BPPD West Nusa Tenggara, Taufan Rahmadi told Mi’raj Islamic News Agency (MINA), Wednesday, directly from Dubai.

Taufan said, other cities which nominated as halal honeymoon destination are Cairo Egypt, Doha-Qatar, Istanbul-Turkey, Marrakech-Morocco and Tehran- Iran.

From the 14 total categories, Indonesia nominated as finalist in five categories; World Best Family Friendly Hotel, World Best Cultural Destination, World’s Best culinery Destination, World’s Best Honeymoon Destination Halal and Halal World’s Best Tourism Destination.

The Indonesian delegation who joined at the event; Nia Niscaya (Foreign ministry), Taufan Rahmadi, (Chairman of BPPD  West Nusa Tenggara), Fauzal, NTB tourism bureau, Riyanto, owner of Sofyan Hotel, Swarga hotel managements, and others.

After the event, many people came to the office of Wonderful Indonesia in Abu Dhabi. They asked, “Where is Lombok?

“In 2015, the government targeted 250  thousands of Middle East tourists. By 2016 we estimate to reach 310 thousands, and in 2019, we targeted 560 thousands Middle East tourists, “he said.

Until August 2015, the number of foreign tourists to Indonesia increased by 3%, to 6.3 million people.

Indonesia government applied free visa for some Middle East tourists. It is expected to increase the number of tourist visit to Indonesia archipelago. (L/P008/R03)

Mi’raj Islamic News Agency (MINA)