JAKARTA, Nov. 8 (Xinhua) -- Indonesia has earned prestigious international recognition for its diving sites in the annual World Travel Market event in London, the Tourism Ministry announced here on Wednesday.
The awards, provided by Dive Magazine for the categories of Best Destination and Best Dive Center or Resort, were received by Indonesian Tourism Minister Arief Yahya.
The awards went to Siladen Resort and Spa in Bunaken in Indonesia's North Sulawesi province.
"Indonesia received the Best Destination award for the same respect last year. It shows that Indonesian destinations, particularly for diving, are apparently world-class," the minister said when receiving the awards.
Besides the one in Bunaken, other diving sites across Indonesia also received awards from several prestigious media as well as from international institutions, Yahya added.
Those spots were Raja Ampat in Papua, Alor in East Nusa Tenggara (NTT) province, Lembongan in Bali, Lembeh in North Sulawesi, Wakatobi and Bunaken also in Sulawesi.
"All of those awards were not resulted from random picks," Yahya said. "They (awards providers) staked their reputations to give the awards. Therefore the awards would certainly improve credibility of Indonesia's diving destinations."
Those Indonesian diving spots were considered as "Undersea Heaven", he noted.
The annual World Travel Market that traditionally hosted by London is regarded as the world's second largest tour and travel event after the Berlin Internationale Tourismus Borse (ITB).
Indonesia sent 50 tour operators to the event, aimed at tapping more tourism potentiality from Britain and the European market.
Indonesia has set target to welcome 384,000 tourists from Britain, higher than last year's 328,882.
As of August this year, 244,638 tourists to Indonesia were from Britain, accounting for 63.71 percent of the target, according to data released by the ministry.
