Villagers across the archipelago's eastern islands benefit from the tourism boom by offering boat rentals, diving services and drone services.
Key takeaways
Botubarani village in Gorontalo has transformed from a fishing community into a tourism hub after whale shark videos went viral on Facebook in 2016. Approximately 80 villagers now earn significantly more income by providing boat rentals, diving services, and drone usage to tourists.
- Villagers earn up to 3 million rupiah monthly, compared to 400,000 rupiah from previous fishing activities.
- A 2016 Facebook video of whale sharks made the village a popular social media destination.
- Tourists often call the whale sharks Serli, meaning 'often seen' in Indonesian.
Summarised automatically by AI from the original article by Free Malaysia Today. AI can make mistakes, so check the original for details.
A drone view shows tourists sitting on transparent boats beside a whale shark as a guide swims nearby carrying bait at Botubarani Beach in Bone Bolango Regency. (Reuters pic)GORONTALO: Passengers gasp in delight as Ansar Lasimpala, 47, manoeuvres his glass-hulled boat towards the large, dark shadow of a whale shark gliding under the waters off an Indonesian beach.
Once a backwater where fishing was the only source of income, Ansar's village of Botubarani has turned into a tourism destination for those keen to interact with the whale sharks, which are the world's largest fish species.
"I have a more relaxed job now and the income is fairly good," said Ansar, after feeding the whale sharks with shrimp on the beach.
