Bintan Resort: A model success of Singapore-indonesia public-private partnership

Bintan Resort is a joint venture between Singapore and Indonesia and a private company backed by the Indonesian Government. Over 12 modern resorts come under the Bintan Resorts and building of some more hotels are on the cards.

It was also established to maintain a stable, harmonious and healthy relationship with the local community living in the vicinity of the Bintan resorts.

Abdul Wahab, the Group General Manager of Bintan Resorts, told the media that they were aware that many Sri Lankans want to spend their holidays in Bintan but it were discouraged due to the hassling visa process in the past.

“But with granting visa on arrivals now, we are hopeful that Bintan will be a popular destination among Sri Lankan tourists, soon,” he said.

He said Bintan was risen up as a tourist destination just 20 years ago and the present Minister of Tourism of Indonesia wants to promote Bintan more as the next tourist destination to Bali. 

“We will become the next Bali soon. We are still young and attracting more tourists with our unique world-class facilities, well-managed and trained staff and hospitality in Bintan,” Wahan said.

The Bintan Resort is the major arm which supports investors to start hotels, helping to get clearance and providing infrastructure facilities like water supply, roads and electricity. Water quality of the island will be check weekly in domestic laboratories and samples will be tested for quality again monthly in Singapore. 

Waste management and the community service are other important tasks, which are handled by Bintan Resort. Running their own ferry service with four ferries, it has its own ferry terminal. 

“We have received so many internationally acclaimed awards for our resorts. Bintan is more popular among European, Chinese and Japanese tourists,” he said, while explaining the importance of preserving and managing mangroves.

“We know that mangroves saved some parts of Sri Lanka when the tsunami hit the country. We promote the value of preserving mangroves in our eco-tourism programs, which also looked into health and education among the villagers in Bintan,” Wahab said.

He said 15 years ago it was a difficult task to find workers for those resorts in Bintan as the youth in local communities lack English speaking skills and lack understanding about hospitality. 

As a remedy to the issue, Bintan Resorts had started adopting schools under their educational programs which financially helped school children in their studies. 

“Over 9,223 school children in 22 schools are financially looked after by us to fulfil their educational needs under this project. Today nearly 40 % of our work force is from those students whom we helped. Each year 200 children are enrolled to the Centre for Tourism, which comes under Bintan Resorts. They learn about tourism industry and before they complete their education, we have ensured them with employment in the resorts and we are looking after their future,” he noted.

Spelling out future plans Wahab said the centuries-old American war ship ‘Daulos Phos’ built in 1914, which has a 200-room cabin, would be converted into 300-room modern hotel soon. 

“We will have a theme park and a safari park soon. We are confident that the present number of tourist arrivals will rise by many fold when we open the Bintan International Airport with a three-km long runway. Fully modern shopping centres selling all international brands will also be opened in future,” he said.

Wahab said that tourists prefer holidaying in Bintan as it was a gated community, where no outsider was allowed to idle in resorts. They need prior permission to enter into the resort. “Here you can meet only guests and resort workers. Safety and security are guaranteed 100%,” he assured. 

He said Bintan and Singapore do twin destination promotions among Sri Lankan tourists and Sri Lankan arrivals were high to Singapore in the past but not to Bintan due to visa restrictions. 

“Sri Lanka was not on our radar earlier but we are hopeful that the relaxed visa process will have a positive impact. Sri Lankan media visiting Bintan is a milestone and a good start,” he said.