Jakarta – Tourism and Creative Economy Minister Sandiaga Uno believes that the Pertamina Grand Prix of Indonesia, which will take place from March 18 to 20, 2022, is an excellent chance to promote the country’s traditional culinary riches.
“The diversity of Indonesian (culinary) riches, as one of the backbones of the country’s creative economy, should be recognized with the world community,” Uno said on Sunday as he dispatched 10 food trucks to promote culinary items during the racing event.
The minister highlighted that the local wisdom and diverse traditional spices should be displayed during the MotoGP event, which will be hosted at the Pertamina Mandalika International Street Circuit in Mandalika, West Nusa Tenggara (NTB) Province, because 400 million people would be watching the event.
As a result, he remarked, excellent culinary delicacies from 34 regions would be displayed at the circuit.
“The culinary promotion is part of the Spice Up the World Program, which aims to make Indonesia one of the world’s leading gourmet tourism destinations,” the minister said.
According to Uno, the culinary sector produced 42-45 percent of job prospects in Indonesia.
As a result, the government is attempting to showcase Indonesia’s gastronomic potential to the rest of the world by making the most of the worldwide racing event.
Furthermore, Uno stated that his organization has cooperated with one of the domestic sweet soy sauce companies to conduct the 2022 Bango Culinary Festival (FJB) to showcase Indonesian culinary richness.
“I anticipate that the addition of food trucks and the implementation of the 2022 FJB would increase culinary transactions at the racing event by 20-30 percent, as we want to generate 35-50 thousand new job possibilities to revitalize the Mandalika economy,” he said.
According to the 2020 Focus Economy Outlook, Indonesian culinary products contributed 41 percent of Indonesia’s GDP, with the value of the products reaching US$27.5 billion each year, according to Deputy for the Digital Economy and Creative Products of the Tourism and Creative Economy Ministry Muhammad Neil El Himam.
