President Jokowi: International Events Spur Regional Economic Growth

President Jokowi delivers press statement after watching F1 Powerboat event at Toba Lake, North Sumatra province, Sunday (02/26). (Photo by: BPMI)

International events, such as the F1H2O/Powerboat boat race, will be able to spur economic growth as well as build the region’s brand that organizes the event, President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo has said.

“We hope that these kinds of international events can build brand in each region, such as F1 Powerboat on Lake Toba, MotoGP and Superbike in Mandalika, and Formula E in Jakarta. I think this will trigger the economy in the region. It is very good,” said the President after watching the F1H2O race event at Muliaraja Napitupulu Balige Port, Toba regency, North Sumatra province, Sunday (02/26).

He explained that the existence of international event in an area will also support local businesses such as hotels and restaurants.

“If it continues like this, later there will be more hotels, more restaurants, which in result will boost economic growth in super priority tourist areas,” he said.

According to him, the Government is also continuing to explore various sports-based international events to be held in Indonesia. Currently, the Government is preparing a team to be able to bring the Formula 1 racing title to Indonesia.

“We are embarking on all possibilities since that kind of events will bring strong brands like F1 Powerboat. This is no easy task. We also want to attract Formula 1 to enter Indonesia maybe next year. We are in assessment process, preparing the team,” he said while expressing hope that in the future there will be racers or teams from Indonesia who can participate in international races such as MotoGP, F1 or F1H2O.

For now, the President continued, the international racing event will have an impact on the super priority tourist destinations where it will be held.

“Later we will have teams to arrange similar events. This time the big events are available for super priority tourist destinations in our country,” he explained.

In the future, the President said that the Government will continue to strive to improve supporting infrastructure in areas such as the Lake Toba area. According to him, the lack of infrastructure and facilities can only be found out when there is a big event like F1H2O.

“We still have a lot to improve in this area of Lake Toba. The infrastructure, the airport terminal, even for the F1 Powerboat, there are still many flaws that we must fix. I thought everything takes time, everything takes a process, it couldn’t be done right away. Only during big event like this can we find out which facility we still lack of so that we can make improvement. Everything takes a process,” he remarked. (BPMI SETPRES/UN) (EST/MUR)