INTENSIFYING BOROBUDUR PROMOTION TO HELP ACHIEVE NATIONAL TOURISM TARGET by Fardah

Jakarta, Sept 19, 2017 (Antara) - Various stakeholders engaged in the tourism industry should work harder to help the Tourism Ministry achieve its target of attracting some 20 million foreign tourists by 2019.

          State company PT Taman Wisata Candi (TWC-Temple Tourism Park) is among the parties committed to helping achieve the national tourism target.  
     The company managing the temples of Borobudur, Prambanan, and Ratu Boko, among other things, has been improving the quality of tourist attractions in Yogyakarta and Central Java Province and intensifying promotion activities in order to attract more foreign tourists to visit the temples.

          Last August, a TWC delegation had visited China to promote the tourist attractions in Central Java.

          They had sought assistance of the Indonesian Embassy in Beijing to help realize the target of attracting three million foreign tourists in 2017.

          "Perhaps, the Indonesian Embassy in Beijing could invite (Chinese) travel agents to bring along tourists to our temples," Retno Hardiasiwi, the technical and infrastructure director of PT TWC, informed Antara correspondent in Beijing, during the visit.

          "Without the help of others, it will be difficult for us to attract three million foreign tourists," she remarked.    
    General Manager of the Prambanan Temple Tourism Park Pujo Suwarno, a member of the delegation, said a total of 3,592 Chinese tourists had visited Prambanan Temple located in the border of Yogyakarta and Central Java during the January-July 2017 period.

          In 2016, a total of 207,952 foreign tourists, including 7,189 Chinese travelers, or only 3.46 percent of the total, had visited the Prambanan Temple.

          Harry Widianto, director of cultural heritage preservation and museums of the education ministry, who accompanied Hardiasiwi during the visit to China, noted that Indonesia and China had established cooperation to preserve the cultural heritage.

BOROBUDUR TEMPLE PANORAMA CASTS LASTING CHARM by Fardah

   Jakarta, July 8, 2017 (Antara) - Borobudur Temple is known all over the world for its ancient and huge mountain-shape building, beautiful reliefs, statues, and stupas.

       The world's largest Buddhist temple has been popular worldwide particularly after the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization included the place of worship on its World Heritage list in 1991.

        Built during the reign of a king belonging to the Saliendra Dynasty between 750 and 842 AD, the temple is located in Mendut Village, Magelang District, Central Java Province, about 42 kilometers from the city of Yogyakarta, at the center of Java Island.

        Borobudur Temple, with a massive step pyramid structure made from giant stone blocks, is built on a hill and is surrounded by valleys and hills. The levels rise up representing the stages of enlightenment.

         It was built in three tiers: a pyramidal base with five concentric square terraces, the trunk of a cone with three circular platforms, and at the top, a monumental stupa.

        On the lower rectangular levels, stone-carved panels depict the story of the Buddhist Sutras through 1,460 scenes intricately carved into the stone.

        The walls and balustrades are decorated with fine low reliefs, covering a total surface area of 2,500 square meters. Around the circular platforms are 72 openwork stupas, each containing a statue of the Buddha.

        The list of the Seven Wonders of the World has changed many times over the years, and Borobudur has often been included in that list.

BOROBUDUR TEMPLE BEING PROMOTED HEAVILY TO LURE MORE FOREIGN TOURISTS By Fardah

    Jakarta, March 7, 2015 (Antara) - The image of the huge mountain temple of Borobudur has been popular worldwide particularly after UNESCO included the world's largest Buddhist temple in its World Heritage list in 1991.

         The temple was built during the reign of a king belonging to the Saliendra dynasty between AD 750 and 842 and is located about 42 kilometers from the city of Yogyakarta, at the center of the Java Island.

         UNESCO and the Indonesian government had undertaken a complete renovation of the monument as part of a massive project from 1975 to 1983.

         Borobudur is surrounded by beautiful rice fields, and four active volcanoes: Merapi, Sindoro, Merbabu and Sumbing, from which the building stones of the temple were produced.

TOURISTS, LOCAL PEOPLE JOIN HANDS IN BOROBUDUR TEMPLE CLEANUP by Fardah

    Jakarta, Feb 23, 2014 (Antara) -  When Mount Kelud erupted on February 13, it spewed millions of cubic meters of volcanic materials mainly gravels and ash later blown by the wind up to Borobudur temple, the world's largest Buddhist temple located in Central Java, which is around 280 km from the volcano.

         The ancient temple was fully covered by the volcanic ash, forcing the local authorities to close the temple from the public to enable the preservation measures and cleanup to be carried out, a day after the explosive eruption of Mount Kelud located in Kediri-Blitar districts, East Java province.

BOROBUDUR TEMPLE TO WELCOME FAMOUS HOLLYWOOD ACTOR By Fardah

      Jakarta, June 19, 2011 (ANTARA) - Famous Hollywood actor Richard Gere will visit Borobudur and Prambanan temples on June 25-27, 2011, and expected to help promote Indonesian tourism internationally.
       "Gere has a lot of fans in Asia, the United States and Europe, so his visit hopefully will help promote Borobudur and Prambanan temples world-wide," Sapta Nirwandar, tourism and culture ministry`s director general of marketing, said at a press conference here last weekend.