Strengthening Tourism Promotion for Penyengat Island Based on Malay Culture

Penyengat Island in the Riau Islands is one of the centers of Cultural Heritage Malay in Indonesia. However, behind this historical wealth, the tourism economic potential of Penyengat Island is considered not yet maximally developed. 

The National Development Planning Agency (Bappenas) considers strengthening Tourism Promotion and marketing as an important step for the area to develop into a Malay culture-based orange economy center.

Director of Planning for Productivity Enhancement and Thematic Development of Bappenas, Uke Mohammad Hussein, stated that Penyengat Island has great potential to become an example of cultural-based Creative Economy development in Indonesia.

"The orange economy in Penyengat Island is quite promising if well-managed. Kepri could become a model," said Uke during his visit to Tanjungpinang on Friday.

Uke explained that the orange economy is an economic sector based on creativity, culture, art, and innovation capable of transforming intellectual wealth into jobs and economic benefits. 

In the context of Penyengat Island, the Malay Cultural Heritage has a strong foundation to be further developed through tourism and Creative Economy sectors.

Despite various cultural area arrangements by central and local governments in recent years, Uke assessed the impact on tourism economic growth remains suboptimal.

"Thankfully there's significant progress. We just need to identify areas that can still be developed to amplify its impact," he stated.

According to Uke, Penyengat Island already possesses crucial capital in cultural storytelling and attractive tourism packages for visitors. 

The Malay historical narrative embedded in the area is considered sufficiently strong to build cultural-based tourism experiences.

"The storytelling and tourism packages exist, now we just need to expand the promotion further," he said.

Penyengat Island has long been recognized as a key center for Malay and Islamic cultural development in Sumatra's coastal region. 

Besides Tourism Promotion, Bappenas also encourages strengthening the Destination Management Organization (DMO) involving government, private sector, and community groups. 

This collaboration is deemed essential to create Sustainable Tourism destination management and deliver direct economic benefits to local communities.

Bappenas also plans to engage the Directorate of Western Indonesia Development and Directorate of Cultural Advancement in cultural-based area development on Penyengat Island.

Meanwhile, Head of Bappelitbang (Regional Development Planning, Research, and Innovation Agency) Tanjungpinang City, Riono, stated the local government continues to strengthen cultural and creative economy sectors as the city's economic growth engines.

According to Riono, Tanjungpinang offers not only Malay cultural and Islamic Religious Tourism but also diverse other historical destinations.

"We don't just have Penyengat and Malay culture synonymous with Islam, but also a 300-year-old temple and the Thousand Statue," he said.

Beyond tourism, local creative economy strengthening is also supported by continuously growing SMEs. 

Tanjungpinang City Government data recorded micro business units reaching 15,003 in 2025, predominantly in the culinary sector.