Tourism and Creative Economy Minister Sandiaga Uno is keen that the Pertamina Grand Prix of Indonesia or the MotoGP 2022 series in Mandalika, West Nusa Tenggara (NTB), will encourage economic revival of the community.
“We are optimistic that this international event would become a momentum for us to recover and also help us in transitioning to strengthen post-pandemic economic recovery,” Uno stated during a working meeting with Commission X of the House of Representatives (DPR) on Wednesday.
Until now, the local community in Lombok has been benefitted in the form of creation of jobs. Some 300 people are hired as construction workers, three thousand people in Micro, Small, and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) merchandising, 600 people work in homestays, and 1,500 people are involved in logistics and transportation, Uno remarked.
Around 900 workers are absorbed in the culinary and restaurant sectors, some 500 people work in the accommodation sector, and around 100 people in the natural, social, and cultural exploration sector.
“The total number is quite significant,” he emphasized.
On the accommodation side, as of March 14, 2022, some 11,244 rooms were occupied in NTB, comprising 6,369 in star-rated hotels, 1,199 rooms in budget hotels, 62 in villas, 168 in bungalows, 2,307 in homestays, 280 camping ground rooms, and 300 rooms in tourism residential facilities (sarhunta).
Meanwhile, Uno informed that 6,492 rooms were available for MotoGP participants.
“Most of the available rooms are in Gili Tramena. Hence, we plan to stay in Gili and will try glamping ahead of the MotoGP race,” he stated.
For accommodation and attractive packages ranging from hotels in Lombok to homestays, cluster housing, Live on Board (LOB) Phinisi, and Bali hotels, some 1,544 tickets have been sold.
Regarding the accessibility of air transportation, Uno noted that 21,500 air tickets were reserved and 82,800 seats were still available for the flight route to Lombok on March 12-20, 2022.
Meanwhile, in terms of sea transportation, some seats are available for four routes: Surabaya – Lembar Port NTB, Ketapan – Lembar Port NTB, Padang Bai – Lembar Port NTB, and Sumbawa – Kayangan Port NTB.
“For land transportation, 188 shuttle buses are available inside the Mandalika area and 278 buses,” Uno noted.
Source: Antara News