Jakarta To Host International Marathon Event

Jakarta, Sept 30 (Antara) - Jakarta will host an international marathon event called the Jakarta Marathon (JakMar) on October 27, Governor Joko Widodo revealed on Monday at a press conference. "I fully support this event as we will be able to promote Jakarta to a more international audience," the governor stated, adding that the city will be spending Rp10 billion to finance the activity. Meanwhile, Vice Minister for Tourism and Creative Economy Sapta Nirwandar, pointed out that about 5,800 persons from 43 countries, including the United Kingdom, Kenya, Ethiopia, Japan, Australia, and France had registered themselves as participants of the Jakarta Marathon. The event itself will be divided into five categories, namely a full marathon of 42 kilometers (km), a half marathon of 21 km, others of 10 km and 5 km and a marathon for children, which will be 1.3 km long. The organizing committee will be handing out a grand prize worth US$40,000 to the winner of the marathon competition. "The marathon will start commence at the National Monument area and pass through Budi Kemuliaan, the Old City, Istiqlal Mosque, Thamrin Road, the Imam Bonjol area, Rasuna Said Road, Gatot Subroto, Asia Afrika, Sudirman Road and back to the National Monument," Nirwandar said. JakMar is one among the many sports and leisure tourism programs devised by the Tourism and Creative Economy Ministry, which are aimed at boosting tourist flow into to Indonesia. Indonesia has set a target for welcoming 9 million tourists this year. The target markets for tourism promotion are Singapore, Malaysia, Australia, China, Japan and South Korea. "Sixteen countries will become the target market for our tourism industry next year. In those countries we will organize a number of priority events to attract more tourists," Tourism and Creative Economy Minister Mari Elka Pangestu noted. The ministry had set itself the target of attracting 1.75 million tourists from Singapore, 1.4 million tourists from Malaysia, 1.220 million tourists from Australia, 1 million tourists from China, 505 thousand tourists from Japan and 360 thousand tourists from South Korea next year, she added. The other target markets that the ministry was eyeing as a potential source of attracting tourists from was the Philippines, Taiwan, the United States, Britain, France, India, the Netherlands, the Middle East, Germany and Russia.