Alwi Shihab, the Presidential envoy to the Middle East and the Organization of Islamic Coopeation (OIC), said that several Middle Eastern countries had expressed their interests to develop Indonesian beaches.
Alwi revealed the Middle Eastern countries planned to build bigger exclusive resorts in order to compete with the famous Maldives.
“Many Middle Eastern countries want to make bigger [tourist destinations] than Maldives. But they’re having difficulties to find a 300-hectare land,” Alwi said in Bandung on Thursday, January 28, 2016.
Alwi explained that investors from Middle East wanted to develop accessible beaches, such as Pelabuhan Ratu in Sukabumi, West Java.
“They want beaches with mounts located near Jakarta. We suggested investing in Sukabumi,” Alwi added.
Since it was hard to find a sizable land in Pelabuhan Ratu, Alwi proposed other locations outside Java, such as those in Tanjung Lesung, Belitung, Padang, Selayar and Lombok. Alwi revealed that most of the investors were members of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC), such as the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, and Qatar.
“Saudi Arabia has invested in Maldives,” Alwi said.
Alwi explained that the Middle Eastern countries were more than willing to provide fund to develop beaches in Indonesia. The United Arab Emirates, for example, books an annual state revenue up to Rp 2,000 trillion (US$144.9 billion) per year.
“I can’t say the exact number. You can do the math. It means they have money,” Alwi said.
Alwi added that one of the reasons behind their interest to invest in Indonesian tourism was that Indonesia is open to Middle Eastern tourists. In addition, Europe and the United States had been paranoid when they see people with Islamic names spend their holidays in the two regions.
“It’s related to the political dynamics in the Middle East. There’s Islamophobia and suspicion that make them uncomfortable when students or tourists from Middle East come to the United States or Europe. Therefore, the alternative is Indonesia, one of their friendly countries because there is no suspicion here. In addition, the majority of the population is Muslim. However, we’re not ready yet,” Alwi said.