EAGA MEMBER COUNTRIES AGREE TO DEVELOP ECO-TOURISM

Manado, Indonesia, Nov 1 (ANTARA) - Countries in the East Asia Growth Area (EAGA), namely Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia and the Philippines (BMIP) have agreed to jointly develop eco-tourism, an Indonesian tourism official said.

"Eco-tourism is a new and potential tourism concept and opportunity because it involves people and cares about environment conservation," the Indonesian director general of development of tourism destinations, Firmansyah Rahim, said when closing the BIMP-EAGA Community-based Eco-tourism Conference here on Saturday.

The conference was also attended by representatives from nine other countries namely the US, Australia, Britain, Italy and Thailand that had also given inputs on how to develop eco-tourism in the BMIP-EAGA.

Firmansyah said Indonesia which is rich in natural resources could use the meeting as a start to rise to develop the country's eco-tourism to promote the growth of its tourism sector.

Experts gave their inputs in the meeting on how tourism could be developed while at the same time helping natural conservation.

"The eco-tourism concept is based on five principles namely conservation, local people's involvement, grassroot economy, education and tourism," he said.

Organizing committee chairman Bernardino Vega who is also the chairman of the local chapter of the Indonesian Chamber of Commerce and Industry said the most important result of the meeting was the desire of the Asian Development Bank to help the development of eco-tourism in the BIMP-EAGA.

"The ADB assistance will be given for helping study on several projects that could be developed into eco-tourism projects and people empowerment to develop tourism potentials," he said.

The three-day meeting was opened by Indonesian coordinating minister for people's welfare Aburizal Bakrie.