A DELEGATION from the Indonesian government has visited the North York Moors National Park on a fact-finding mission.

Indonesia has 50 national parks, six of which are World Heritage Sites, and more than 117 conservation areas.

The parks are home to a wide range of animals, such as birds of paradise, ornamental fish and the Komodo dragon. But those responsible for investing in the parks recently visited the moors of North Yorkshire for information on how to attract more tourists.

Many of the sites in Indonesia are inaccessible either by car or on foot due to the poor road network and are under-used by tourists. They also suffer from poaching and encroachment by small-scale farmers.

The delegation from the Investment Coordinating Board of the Republic of Indonesia was shown around the National Park by Janet Cochrane, senior research fellow at the International Centre for Responsible Tourism at Leeds Metropolitan University.

Dr Cochrane said: “This was a particularly interesting visit for me because I’ve been associated with nature conservation in Indonesia for over 30 years, and there’s wonderful potential for the parks to generate funding for tourism to support both nature conservation and the national and local economy. It’s exciting to see that this important agency is now getting involved.”