Jakarta (ANTARA) – An official of the Jakarta provincial Tourism and Creative Economy Office expressed optimism about Formula E’s positive impact on foreign tourist arrivals in the capital city.

“The Formula E race will certainly enhance domestic and foreign tourists visits (to Jakarta),” Head of the provincial Tourism and Creative Economy Andhika Permata stated here on Saturday.

Apart from causing a surge in tourist arrivals, the electric car race has also positively impacted the hotel industry in the capital city, he remarked while adding that detailed information about the current hotel occupancy rate could only be known after the event’s conclusion.

Earlier, the Formula E organising committee stated that some 50 percent of the tickets available for the event were purchased by foreign nationals.

“Those who purchased the ticket are not only Indonesian nationals, as more than 50 percent (of the purchase was made) by foreign nationals,” Formula E Jakarta’s Vice Managing Director Gunung Kartiko stated on Thursday.

He noted that foreign nationals that purchased the Formula E tickets originated from Japan, Australia, the United States, the Philippines, India, Italy, the United Kingdom, and some other countries.

Moreover, Statistics Indonesia’s Jakarta office recorded that foreign tourist arrivals to Jakarta during the January-April 2022 period reached 88 thousand, an increase of 170 percent from the same period in 2021.

Meanwhile, the room occupancy rate for star-rated hotels in April 2022 reached 45.8 percent, a decline of seven percent from March 2022, which recorded an occupancy rate of 52.7 percent.

Some 22 racers from 11 teams will participate in the Formula E Jakarta race organised in the recently completed Jakarta International e-Prix Circuit in Ancol, North Jakarta, on Saturday.

Before the main race at 3 p.m. local time (UTC +7), Formula E racers had two race trial sessions at 7:15 a.m. and 9 a.m. local time and had passed the qualification stage at 10:40 a.m. local time.

Source: Antara News