Pesta Danau Toba (Lake Toba Festival) is one of North Sumatra’s biggest tourism events, celebrating the conservation of environment, its community, traditional cultures, sports, and, above all, reminding people of how Lake Toba was once the source of pride for North Sumatera, indeed even the whole of Indonesia. This year, the committee of the festival is determined to do exactly that by collaborating with a variety of travel agents, hotels and airlines, such as the national flag carrier, Garuda Indonesia, to promote the event and attract more tourists to come. “This year, the Lake Toba Festival which will be held from 20 to 24 October will be a resurrection of Lake Toba as the definitive tourism icon of Indonesia,” said Parlindungan Purba, Chairman of the Committee for Lake Toba Festival 2010.
Parlindungan contended that many tourists today view Lake Toba somewhat unfavourably, citing limited infrastructure or lack thereof, badly managed tourism area and general lack of lustre of the destination as the 1997 financial crisis meltdown and security concerns have slowly but surely eroded the flow of tourists to the area. That is unfortunate, Parlindungan said, especially considering that Lake Toba was the pioneer in the field of lake management in Indonesia, ahead of any other lake. For example, Lake Toba actually had a master plan document called Lake Toba Ecosystem Management Plan, but over the years the plans had slowly faltered. Parlindungan said this is why the theme of this year’s festival is deliberately aimed to arouse everyone’s imagination that Lake Toba isn’t just a lake with breathtaking natural riches, but also a cultural epicentre of one of the most robust cultures in Indonesia.
“We’d like the delivery of this year’s festival to become a kind of momentum for the revival of Lake Toba,” he said.
To achieve this, he has invited the surrounding communities to take part in the festival. Ceremonial events that feature celebrity artists from the capital city of Jakarta will also be reduced and replaced with local cultural performances. There will be events such as the festival of Gondang (traditional musical instrument), colossal Lake Toba welcoming dance, Batak Opera performances and unique cultural parades in each district around the lake.
Also, the Toba Tao Idol will make its cameo there. The Toba Tao Idol’s objective is to discover new talents, particularly from the surrounding communities. All contestants will sing Batak songs either solo, trio or group. The Toba Tao Idol Festival will be held at eight cities and regencies which are: Medan, Tebing Tinggi, Pematangsiantar, Simalungun, Tobasa, North Tapanuli, Humbang Hasundutan, West Pakpak and Dairi.
The theme of the resurrection of Lake Toba is intended to generate the awareness of the level of ecological damage to the lake area that is getting worse. Before the festival a “Clean the Lake” programme will be held. The committee is hopeful that the Environment Minister can directly inaugurate the opening of the programme to convey a strong message. The Lake Toba Festival is one of a series of initiatives supporting the Visit Indonesia Year 2010 campaign.