Since the Maluku Islands (Moluccas) sectarian conflict broke out in early 1999, travellers, including Indonesians, have been avoiding the region even though the conflict ended in 2002. Acmad Alkatiri, from the islands, decides to use social media to lure back the tourists.
Baronda Maluku team
Acmad Alkatiri, or Mad as he is known to friends, hails from Ambon, Maluku’s capital. Located between Sulawesi and Papua in east Indonesia, Maluku is known for its pristine beaches, spectacular diving spots, rich cultures and good food. Before the sectarian conflict erupted in 1999, it was a favourite holiday destination for both Indonesians and foreign travellers.
Known then as “Maluku Manise” or “Sweet Maluku”, things went sour after the conflict when travellers started avoiding the islands and even after it ended in 2002, they’ve continued to stay away.
Determined to do his bit for his islands’ tourism industry, Mad, who is an active member of several travel communities and himself the community manager of Wego Indonesia, decided to start the #BarondaMaluku project. (“Baronda” is Ambonese for “travelling”, so #BarondaMaluku means “travelling in Maluku”.)
Mad approached Indonesia’s Tourism and Creative Economy Ministry with the i#BarondaMaluku project. The ministry agreed to give full funding to the project as it was in line with its objective of promoting Indonesian destinations beyond Bali.
He then put together a creative team of 10 travel content creators consisting of bloggers, influencers, journalists, videographers and photographers to explore the beauty of Maluku for six days, from May 25-30.
Included in the team were key players in Indonesia’s social travel space, namely travel celebrity Riyanni Djangkaru, blogger Marischka Prudence (who was a speaker at WIT Indonesia in March), photographer Barry Kusuma and Miss Scuba International Dayu Hatmanti.
Accommodation in tranquil Maluku
Said Mad, “#BarondaMaluku is an integrated social media activation project, which depends on and uses social media as the main platform to create awareness of Maluku. It has only one objective, which is to tell 250 million Indonesians Maluku is a beautiful destination, ready to be visited again and be explored.”
In line with the social nature of the project, team members tweeted about their adventure, posted articles on their blogs, posted photos on their networks, as well as created a video about Maluku, uploaded to Youtube (see video below).
The result was amazing, said Mad, as hundreds of Indonesians tweeted they would visit Maluku, almost 9,000 views of the video (as at press time) and more than 20 press articles in local media.
Encouraged by this success among Indonesians, Mad now want to promote Maluku to visitors from South-east Asia and beyond. Which is why WIT is supporting his project and telling you about it here.
Apart from Maluku, he plans to use #BarondaMaluku to promote other destinations such as Pombo Island, Ora Beach Resort, which offers coral reefs right outside its rooms, Bukit Manusela National Park.
