"Tongkonan" are a viable part of the market for managed tourism, their seminal value drawing enough people to make Tana Toraja one of Indonesia's most significant destinations for international tourists; a region particularly popular with European visitors.Today, because tourism has displayed the richly carved tongkonan as a symbol of the Toraja ethnic group, tongkonans carved with geometric designs are often seen as symbols of Toraja ethnic identity and not just as symbols of elite identity.