Basing Island a new tourist attraction
The Tanjungpinang City Government, Riau Islands Province (Kepri) through the Culture and Tourism Service (Disbudpar) has made the Basing Island fort cultural heritage site a new tourist attraction in the area.
“Every cultural heritage has the potential to become a tourist destination. Basing Island has history and beautiful natural scenery,” said Head of the History and Cultural Heritage Division of the Tanjungpinang Disbudpar, Wimmy Dharma Hidayat in Tanjungpinang, Thursday.
Basing Island is located in Dompak Village, Bukit Bestari District, Tanjungpinang City. With a length of around 750 meters and a width of 440 meters, Basing Island offers a tourist experience. Basing Island can be reached in a short time, about five minutes using a pompong (wooden boat) from the coast of Tanjung Siambang, Dompak Island.
When setting foot on Basing Island, according to him, visitors’ eyes are drawn to the enchanting green natural scenery.
Not only natural beauty, Basing Island also displays a fortress-like wall structure and a small cave-like building as an entrance. An old well in front adds to the island’s historical appeal.
As a step to establish Basing Island as a tourist destination, the Tanjungpinang Department of Culture and Tourism conducted a walk-through with maintenance officers throughout Tanjungpinang City.
“We invite them to experience that every cultural heritage has its appeal as a tourist attraction,” said Wimmy.
Meanwhile, Tanjungpinang City Government Intermediate Cultural Affairs Functional Officer, Syafaruddin said that Basing Island was previously only a stopover place for sailors from Penyengat Island to Lingga.
Usually they stop at Basing Island to take shelter from strong winds or look for supplies of drinking water.
“In a flat expanse of land, a number of broken bottles of sake (a Japanese alcoholic drink) were also found. “There is a story that in the past Basing Island was used as a location for having fun,” he said.
However, behind these stories, according to Syafaruddin, the regional government’s focus is now on how to utilize the natural beauty and history of Basing Island for attractive tourism purposes.
Basing Island can also be an educational tourist destination for school children and also a comfortable place for family gatherings .
“We are trying to develop this island with an interesting concept,” he said.
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