Jokowi's Visit to Mandalika Will Trigger growth for the NTB Tourism

President Joko Widodo will inaugurate the Pertamina International Street Circuit Mandalika, in The Mandalika area, Central Lombok, West Nusa Tenggara (NTB) on November 12, 2021.
Mandalika circuit
Pertamina Mandalika International Street Circuit

President Joko Widodo will inaugurate the Pertamina International Street Circuit Mandalika, in The Mandalika area, Central Lombok, West Nusa Tenggara (NTB) on November 12, 2021.

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A national activist from NTB, Karman BM assessed that Jokowi's visit to Mandalika, Central Lombok, will help trigger the rise of the tourism sector in NTB.

"Symbolically, President Jokowi's visit to Mandalika will certainly bring great benefits to NTB, especially in the economic and tourism sectors," Karman said in a statement, Wednesday (11/10/2021).

President Jokowi first to test the Pertamina Mandalika International Street Circuit
President Jokowi first to test the Pertamina Mandalika International Street Circuit

He explained that since the Jokowi administration, the central government's attention to the development of The Mandalika area, Central Lombok has been doing extraordinarily. The tourist area, which had previously been dormant for approximately 29 years, was successfully inaugurated by President Jokowi in October 2017. Mandalika was also designated as one of 10 national priority tourist destinations, and became part of five super-priority tourist destinations that were pushed to become a "New Bali" destination.

"Four years ago, in 2017 the Mandalika area, which had been dormant for decades, was finally inaugurated by President Jokowi and was ready to become operational. With the President set to return to inaugurate the Mandalika Circuit which will be the location of the WSBK and MotoGP international events. This is greatly anticipated for NTB," he said.

Mandalika circuit
Pertamina Mandalika International Street Circuit

The man who is familiarly called Bang Karman said that the central government's attention to the development of the Mandalika area must be balanced by the local government and also the people of NTB themselves.

According to him, the focus of President Jokowi's visit to Lombok, especially Mandalika, has indirectly become a promotional magnet to the outside world.

"Now it's up to the local government, the community, especially the tourism industry players, to seize these opportunities. The attention of the central government must be balanced with the same spirit in the other regions," said Karman.

As it is known, the Mandalika Circuit will host the last series of World Superbike (WSBK) Indonesia on the 19th-21st November 2021. Indonesia's WSBK in Mandalika will be the determinant of the championship competition between Jonathan Rea and Toprak Razgatiloglu. The preparation for the WBSK final race in Mandalika is said to have reached the final stage.

The race track has been completed and the stands for spectators have also been installed. After successfully holding the 2021 WSBK Indonesia, the Mandalika Circuit has officially become the second series in the 2022 MotoGP schedule.

Torok beach

MotoGP 2022 will take place in as many as 21 series which will take place from March to November. In the 2022 MotoGP calendar there are two new series, namely Indonesia and Finland. The Mandalika Circuit, Lombok, Indonesia, will hold the second MotoGP series next season on March 20, 2022.

Karman said that after the implementation of the WSBK later, Mandalika would certainly be in the world's spotlight. He is optimistic that the number of tourist visits to NTB will increase sharply after that, especially to The Mandalika area.

"Mandalika will become a destination where guests who come are not only domestic but also from abroad from various parts of the world. We hope that in this case the local government, both the NTB provincial government and the Central Lombok government, can begin to organize and prepare local human resources so that the community can also benefit from the number of visits," said Karman.

Paragliding Torok

The people of NTB can't just be spectators. According to him, the local government must provide incentives for the community, in the form of policies that facilitate business access, business capital assistance, and capacity building training for tourism industry players and communities in the Mandalika area.

Furthermore, Karman hopes that President Jokowi's visit to Mandalika on November 12, 2021, can be interpreted by the NTB community as momentum for the economic and tourism revival of this region.

"The people of NTB rolled out the red carpet and were enthusiastic about welcoming President Jokowi to Mandalika. This is the best momentum for the development of the economy and tourism of NTB in the future," said the Jokowi volunteer in the 2019 election.

"Let's welcome Pak Jokowi with joy," he concluded.

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