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Tourism ministry to hold Wonderful Indonesia Culinary and Shopping Festival 2017
The event will be joined by 150 shopping malls across the big cities of Indonesia.
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The event will be joined by 150 shopping malls across the big cities of Indonesia. (Shutterstock/File)
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or one full month, beginning September 27 to October 27, the tourism ministry together with the Indonesian Shopping Centers Association (APPBI) is set to hold Wonderful Indonesia Culinary and Shopping Festival 2017.
The event will be joined by 150 shopping malls across the big cities of Indonesia such as Jakarta, Banten, Bandung, Surabaya, Malang, Yogyakarta, Solo, Semarang, Palembang, Medan, Bali, Makassar, Pekanbaru and Balikpapan.
Tourism ministry's archipelago marketing development deputy Esthy Reko Astuti said that the festival’s concept would highlight the Tourism Pentahelix consisting of scholars, businesspeople, community, government and media.
“This event is a collaboration between the ministry and APPBI, this marks the second anniversary of this event. 65 percent of international tourists come to Indonesia because of its culture, 35 percent for nature and 5 percent for man-made attractions such as sports events or MICE. I believe this event will attract a lot of tourists,” said Esthy.
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“Wonderful Indonesia Culinary and Festival 2017 will showcase the many varieties of local cuisines and handicrafts. This event is the perfect platform for micro, small and medium enterprises (UMKM) that produce local food and handicraft,” added the ministry's culinary and shopping tourism acceleration team head, Vita Datau Messakh.
Speaking on a separate occasion, the head of APPBI Stefanus Ridwan said that the opening of the festival will be held on September 27 at Kota Kasablanka Mall in Jakarta.
“There will be traditional dance performance and fashion show of tenun and batik from renowned local designers,” said Stefanus.
According to tourism minister Arief Yahya, this event is the main agenda to attract foodies and shopaholics out there as well as attracting Chinese tourists.
He said while he was visiting Beijing to meet with Chinese web services company Baidu, he was told that 52 percent of Chinese tourists who travel abroad are traveling for shopping, 27 percent for transportation and six percent for culinary.
“China is our main target market at the moment, which surpasses Australia in terms of the number of tourists traveling to Indonesia,” Arief said.
Moreover, he said that Chinese tourists also visit Geneva in Switzerland and Paris with the same intentions.
“Number one is shopping and then followed by culinary and beaches. Indonesia is strong in these three elements,” Arief added. (asw)
