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INDONESIA’s Tourism and Creative Economy Minister Sandiaga Uno observed that Makassar City of South Sulawesi Province has the potential to become the country’s first city, which belongs to the list of UNESCO Cities of Gastronomy.
“No Indonesian cities have acquired the predicate of gastronomy city. Makassar is the most promising city in this context. Hopefully, it will grow and be able to compete with other cities,” he said.
Speaking at Makassar Polytechnic of Tourism campus here Saturday, (10/12), 2024, he underscored that Makassar has widely been known as a creative city with a high-quality culinary sub-sector. The status has been gained thanks to the local government’s efforts to promote Makassar as a city of good cuisines, he said, adding that he feels astonished by a variety of flavorful dishes this South Sulawesi Province’s capital city has to offer.
On that occasion, he also asked for a document that lists Makassar’s potential foods that can help the city get declared a UNESCO City of Gastronomy.
“We still have time to forward (the document) to the jury panel. Hopefully, this document will convince the National Selection Committee (of the UNESCO Creative Cities Network),” he remarked.
Furthermore, Uno assessed that South Sulawesi has seen its tourism and creative economy sectors steadily growing, as evidenced by the holding of quality tourism events and the development of highly-promising creative economy products.
After handing over the aforementioned document to Uno, Head of the Makassar Tourism Office Muhammad Roem noted that the selection committee is in the process of assessing several spots in Makassar, including the Lego-Lego culinary area.
He believed that the status of UNESCO City of Gastronomy would help boost Makassar’s creative economy sector, especially the culinary-sub-sector.
“With the UNESCO recognition, we will be able to brand our city as a world gastronomy destination,” he stated. [antaranews/photo special]
