Banjarmasin, S Kalimatan (ANTARA) - Tourism Office of South Kalimantan intensively socializing the Meratus Geopark, which is being proposed to be the UNESCO Global Geopark (UGG), to rural areas.
One of which is the Belangian Village, one of the geopark sites, located in Aranio Sub-district, Banjar District, Wednesday.
Head of Destinationa Development of the Tourism Office Mugeni said that the activity aims to increase awareness of the people in the surrounding geosite about the assessment being carried out by the UNESCO to Meratus Geopark, which had been designated as the national geopark in 2018.
"The geopark sites are parts of South Kalimantan tourism, thus tourism awareness must be increased for the community in the surrounding destinations hat have geological history," he said.
The role of the community and tourism awareness group (pokdarwis), he said, is very important in order the Meratus Geopark, which is formed by composition of oceanic crust called ophiolite that was lifted to the surface 200-150 million years ago, would be recognized as UGG.
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Meratus Geopark has 54 sites which are community-based tourist destinations and some are in the Banjar District area.
"The participation of community and pokdarwis is very important that we hope they can preserve the nature and culture at the geosite,” said Mugeni.
By increasing public understanding about Meratus Geopark and UGG, it is hoped that the persentage of the geopark will also increase to be included in the UNESCO Global Geoparks (UGG).
Head of Belangian Village Aunul Khoir appreciated the socialization provided by the Tourism Office and related partners.
He said, as one of the geosites of the Meratus Geopark, Belangian Village has a number of stunning tourism potential, both in nature, culinary, and culture.
“From the nature aspect, we have Kahung waterfall and a large tree which has a diameter of 3 meters. We also haveklepon gunung culinary specialty, which is certainly different from klepon in general," said Aunul.
Belangian villagers are also known for their hospitality, this culture must be maintained together as a tourist attraction.
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