Good afternoon. Of course, I will express my gratitude to the IMTA, the Vice Chairman and also all the organizer and also the distinguished guests. In this afternoon, I am representing the Asia Union of Speleology. And I am in direct flight from Indonesia. So, it is one of the presentations that presents Asia as a wonderful destination.
This region now has the ability and it is very interested in mountain tourism because Karst area is from the very high mountain to the coastal area. So that’s why for the first time, it was asked to support the initiative of IMTA to agree and support this IMTA initiative. I come up with 4 or 5 things. In this global situation, It is a new opportunity for Karst area. This region put forward the thoughts, approach and strategy. Towards this global situation, it is also our new opportunity. It increases modern tourism in the mountainous regions including Karst area. And the second is relationship of tourism development with the landscape based primarily on the nature. So it is feasible if China takes active measures within the IMTA scheme to face this challenge because, you know, China is the most populated area in the Asia Pacific region.
It’s tourism from the UNWTO I just now heard. I just want to highlight that the outbound tourism is quite developing very fast in Indonesia. We have got only the natural tourism, the percentage of which is up to 35% including Karst area. The tourism is also eco-tourism and mountain tourism. The culture has been presented. The future of natural tourism will highlight Karst tourism; this is only 5%, including event tourism, sport tourism and eco-tourism.
This is what we are talking about. We are talking about sustainable tourism because the fundamental of the country is closely related to tourism revenue. The more we find the natural environment of the country, the more tourism inclined to thrive there, and the more they are willing to access. Consequently, this distinctive loss in the future will be a very big problem. This is our experience of the Karst area in Indonesia. Karst area has become more popular now. The mountains are mostly popular with climbing. Because we have many volcanoes. So many people try to have tourism especially for volcano and climbing. The Karst has also very significant development in terms of tourism.
The Karst area is an important issue. It’s because the Karst area now is around 25% of our earth coverage, for China, maybe 50% or 40%. So it is quite reasonable that tourism in the Karst area is very important in the next tourism development. What is the importance of Karst area? First, it’s of course the uniqueness of surface morphology. There are many beautiful landscapes of Karst area. In our area, it is also critical. This is the very scenic Karst landscape. There are Karst areas in Indonesia. This is also the beauty of Karst landscape in Indonesia. Karst area also has very unique scenic morphology like here. I take this picture from Nanning of this landscape during my holiday. This is also from Indonesia. Now caves and Karst becomes more popular.
What are the important issues? One is of course the unique scenic and landscapes. It is the most important in the surface and also in other countries. And the second is the fragile ecosystem. China has many experiences on this associating. And the third is poverty. Most of ASEAN tourism is related with that. In China, Karst area is associated with poverty. How to protect this to develop sustainable tourism? Of course, the first is, we have to protect the landscape and value. So we need to have a platform to conserve the landscape. The second is in connecting to local community. The third is get management skill so that tourism can be a solution of this Karst area. This is a key measure for protection of the beauty of the Karst. Of course, we need this. And the second is to develop Karst area’s ability to develop cultural scheme and carry out environment assessment and also monitoring protocol and guideline. What assessment are we going to implement? We need more monitoring to better management in Karst region. And last, I think, you need the local community assistance and engagement so as to better balance the relationship of government, community and private sector. The last is the safety. It is also important. And education and medical development in this area is also important.
Thank you.
