BANGKA – The tourism sector in the Province of the Bangka Belitung Islands continues to grow, not only beach tourism, Bangka Belitung also has other tourism potential. One of them is the Bedelew Water and Air Arus bath, which is located at the northern tip of the island of Bangka, Belinyu, Bangka Regency.
To develop a tourist area that has been established since two years ago, PT Timah Tbk handed over assistance to the Kapitan Hijau Community which manages Bedelew Water baths and Air Arus.
The head of the Kapitan Hijau Community, Juan Apriansyah or who is often called Joenx, said that their community manages the HKM area in Lepar Beach, Mantung Village, Belinyu District, Bangka Regency.
"We will use this assistance to build an entrance gate as well as a ticket gate, which aims to increase group income from visitors," said Joenx after receiving assistance from PT Timah Tbk some time ago.
He said that with the construction of this gate, it would be able to optimize the group's income so that later it would be able to prosper the group members and the surrounding community.
“As a result of the group meeting, we set an entrance fee of IDR 3000 per person, but for the children category it is free. As for blocking reservations, we play for a duration of about 1.5 hours per reservation, but if the public is free, there is no time limit,” said Joenx.
Since the establishment of the Air Bedelew and Air Arus baths two years ago, they have not applied tariffs. Visitors usually give voluntarily, so this makes it difficult for them to develop this tourist area properly due to limited funds.
"The area that we manage is quite large, for the entrance itself we lack income, where previously we did not set tariffs and were voluntary, but the results were not sufficient for the group's needs," he explained.
His party hopes to continue collaborating and synergizing with PT Timah Tbk in developing this area so that it can have an economic impact on groups and surrounding communities.
"We as tourism activists in Belinyu District hope that PT Timah can continue to cooperate, synergize with groups, be it tourism activists, environmental activists in Belinyu District. Thank you to PT Timah who has provided assistance and support to us and continues to be here to help us," he said.
Previously, PT Timah Tbk had also provided assistance with a set of underwater photo spots and cameras. Not only that, to improve the comfort of visitors, PT Timah Tbk also provided assistance for the construction of toilets and changing places.
