The government has been issued with another warning by the Swiss-based New7Wonders Foundation for allowing some institutions to fund a campaign to boost votes for the Komodo National Park to be named as one of the foundation’s Seven New Wonders of Nature.
“This is not the first time; we have been reprimanded several times because of this issue,” Esthy Reko Astuty, director of promotional publications at the Ministry of Culture and Tourism, said on Tuesday.
She confirmed that the New7Wonders Foundation had notified the government of the latest transgression a few days ago after it had discovered that a regional state bank in East Nusa Tenggara had placed advertisements in local newspapers in a bid to boost the vote for Komodo.
According to Esthy, only institutions that have obtained an official license and signed a contract with the foundation are allowed to financially support promotional campaigns.
“The New7Wonders Foundation is very strict. They monitor not only the national but also local media very thoroughly,” she said. “We need to make the regulation known to the regional governments and the private sector.”
Esthy said that the ministry had been trying to explain to stakeholders that continued violations of the foundation’s rules and regulations could lead to Komodo being disqualified as a finalist for the new wonders of nature title.
“Most people we talked to agreed not to repeat the same mistake,” she said.
The ministry estimated that 25 percent of Indonesians who had access to the Internet had voted for the national park to make it into the final stage.
A panel of experts had already narrowed down the list from 261 initial entries down to 77. After a public online vote, the list was further reduced to just 27. The winners of the contest will be announced next year.
Ubaldus Gogi, head of promotions at East Nusa Tenggara’s tourism agency, said that if Komodo was to ultimately win the competition, a significant increase in visitors to the national park would be expected.
“In the previous contest, all destinations chosen as the Seven New Wonders of Nature managed to increase their tourist visitor rates by between 30 to 70 percent,” he said.
Esthy said that despite some challenges, Komodo stood a very good chance of winning the contest because of the high number of Internet users across the country, and the uniqueness of the national park itself.
“Komodo National Park has a very special character. It has the rare Komodo dragon,” she said. “It deserves to be a world heritage site, and with the large number of Internet users, with the proper campaign, we can optimize the vote.”
