Govt to develop tourist sites in conservation areas

"The conservation and the tourism (sectors) should be merged," Wacik said after signing the MoU in West Java`s town of Bogor, some 60 kilometers south of Jakarta.

In such a way, he said, people could earn additional income from the tourism sector while consevation programs could continue to run at the same time.

The MoU also involved the Bogor Institute of Agriculture (IPB) which was tasked to study development of natural tourist sites without disrupting conservation programs.

In 2008, the Culture and Tourism Ministry set a target of drawing seven million foreign tourists to Indonesia and they were expected to spend US$6.7 billion in the country.

Meanwhile, Forestry Minister MS Kaban said Indonesia had a lot of national marine parks and forests but conservation areas in the country were not well-known and thus they should be developed to make people more aware of their existence.

"We now tend to be conservative in dealing with conservation areas and do not allow (people) to touch them," Kaban said.

The Indonesian people should introduce the country`s conservation areas to the international community by considering the principles of tourism and conservation, he said.

Conservation areas where tourist sites are allowed to be developed are those called utilization zones, Kaban said, adding that every conservation area consisted of main zones and utilization zones among others.

In some countries, Kaban said ...