Exotic whale sharks in Indonesia are a very spectacular marine tourism destination.

Whale shark tourism is one of the stunning and spectacular tourist destinations in Botubarani Waters, Kabila Bone District, Bone Bolango Regency, Gorontalo Province, Indonesia.

Visitors can watch whale sharks and even take photos with this large fish species. The tourist attraction of whale sharks at Botubarani Beach is the appearance of whale sharks very close to the shoreline, namely around 25 meters.

Tourists can watch the appearance of whale sharks from the boat. There are various attractions offered by tourism managers for visitors, namely taking photos on a transparent kayak or paddleboard via drone, feeding from a boat, swimming, snorkeling, and diving, aka diving with whale sharks.

Head of the Bone Bolango Tourism Division, Yudiawan Maksum, said that the tourism aspects consisted of attractions, amenities, accessibility and institutional aspects.

According to Yudiawan, these four aspects must be fulfilled to support the existence of the whale shark tourist attraction so that the local community's economy can continue and improve.

"It should be noted that this whale shark tourist attraction is the largest source of local revenue for the tourism sector in Bone Bolango," said Yudiawan Maksum on Sunday, September 29 2024.

Yudi said that his party continues to encourage the tourism industry which is managed by the community and creative economy actors to run optimally.

"We also encourage people to get capital from the government or other institutions. We also hope that people can protect this whale shark tourist attraction as a special interest and conservation tourist attraction in Bone Bolango and Gorontalo Province," he said.

According to Yudi, the appearance of whale sharks in Botubarani Village continues to be an attraction. Whale sharks quickly became a favorite and even a tourist icon not only in Bone Bolango but Gorontalo Province and then had a big influence on the socio-economics of coastal communities in Botubarani Village.

Whale sharks, which have the Latin name Rhincodon Typus, have begun appearing at this location since 2016.

"The existence of whale sharks has had a big impact on the people there. Economic activity there continues to grow. People are starting to get income to support their family life," he said.