Pekalongan, 18 April 2017 - Batik has been long recognized as one of Indonesia’s cultural heritages that needs to be protected and preserved. Committed to #BecomeBetter, on its 60th anniversary, PT Bank Central Asia Tbk (BCA) inaugurated Kampung Batik Gemah Sumilir Tourism Village as one of BCA’s foster tourist villages. This inauguration is an effort to map Pekalongan as World City of Batik to both domestic and international tourists.
Attending to inaugurate the Kampung Batik Gemah Sumilir Tourist Village was Independent Commissioner of BCA Cyrillus Harinowo together with Regent of Pekalongan Asip Kholbihi and Chairman of Gemah Sumilir Pekalongan Amin Maijun at the Secretariat of Joglo House Gemah Sumilir, Pekalongan, Tuesday (18/04). Also witnessing, Executive Vice President of CSR BCA Inge Setiawati, Head of BCA Regional Office II Gunawan Budi Santoso and Head of BCA KCU Pekalongan Andreas Andy Christianto.
“Commemorating its 60th anniversary, BCA is committed to Become Better through its three pillars of Learn Better, Serve Better and Give Better. The inauguration of Kampung Batik Gemah Sumilir Tourism Village is a reflection of BCA’s commitment to Give Better to the public. We see that Pekalongan has its own attractiveness through the potential of its handicrafts and batiks that has been known worldwide, which has subsequently attracted domestic and foreign tourists. Therefore, BCA wishes to be part of the efforts to continuously push and accompany Kampung Batik Gemah Sumilir to optimize its potentials,” said Cyrillus.
On 2 October 2009, UNESCO recognized batik as an Indonesian intangible cultural heritage. Pekalongan has been known as World City of Batik where its Batik Museum becomes one of the top tourist destinations. According to data from Statistics Indonesia (BPS), in the year of 2015, most of the workers in Pekalongan work in batik industry with realization of exports for Sarung batik reached value of US$407 thousand and Batik Cloth approaching US$20 thousand. Meanwhile, the number of domestic tourists visiting Pekalongan nearly reached 190 thousand people, which generated revenue of Rp 821 million.
Kampung Batik Gemah Sumilir itself is one of the producers of batik in Pekalongan. On 30 June 2014, a group of Young Entrepreneurs from various fields of business including batik makers, agreed to establish a Gemah Sumilir Village Cooperative which focuses on the growth of innovative-creative economy by enhancing potentials and building a local wisdom-based and culture-based tourism.
“With the inauguration of Kampung Batik Gemah Sumilir as a foster tourist village, we hope to contribute to the improved competitiveness of batik makers, to stimulate creativity of business opportunities for the local communities and to be able to create jobs to increase welfare of the people,”added Cyrillus.
As one of BCA’s foster villages, Kampung Batik Gemah Sumilir was developed through a series of community developments and empowerments directed to the service excellence in tourism. “Some of the initiatives to develop the tourism potential of Kampung Batik Gemah, including: Excellent Service Training, Online Marketing Training, and Leadership Training to all administrators, benchmarking to Pentingsari Tourist Village in Yogyakarta, and building a representative infrastructure such as Joglo House and secretariat office, as well as the supporting facilities for secretarial activities,” said Cryillus.
BCA Inaugurated Gemah Sumilir Tourist Village in Pekalongan - Independent Commissioner PT Bank Central Asia Tbk (BCA) Cyrillus Harinowo (left) with Executive Vice President of CSR BCA Inge Setiawati (second left) and Head of BCA Regional Office II Gunawan Budi Santoso (right) signed a donation of BCA for the development of Kampung Batik Gemah Sumilir Tourist Village at the Secretariat of Joglo House Gemah Sumilir, Pekalongan, Tuesday (04/18). As one of the Bakti BCA foster villages, kampung Batik Gemah Sumilir was developed by BCA through a series of community development and empowerment and directed to the service excellence in tourism.
Pekalongan has its own attractiveness through the potential of handicrafts and batik that has been known worldwide, which has subsequently attracted domestic and international tourists. With the inauguration of Kampung Batik Gemah Sumilir as a foster village, we hope to contribute to the improved competitiveness of batik craftsmen, to enhance creative business opportunities for local communities and to be able to create jobs to increase welfare of the people.
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About PT Bank Central Asia Tbk (as of 31 December 2016)
PT Bank Central Asia Tbk (BCA) is one of the leading private banks in Indonesia focusing on business banking transactions, credit loan facilities, and financial solutions for the corporate, commercial and SME, as well as individual customers. At the end of December 2016, BCA facilitated banking transactions for more than 15 million customers, through 1,211 branches, 17,207 ATMs, and more than 400,000 EDC, supported by 24-internet and mobile banking.
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