Jakarta - Makassar International Eight Festival & Forum (F8 Makassar), which is one of the leading tourism and creative economy events in Makassar City, will return this year with a target of 600 thousand visitors and transactions of up to Rp30 billion.
Tourism and Creative Economy Principal Expert of the Ministry of Tourism and Creative Economy, Nia Niscaya, said F8 Makassar is a proud event of Makassar City which has been named five times as one of the best events in Indonesia, both through Wonderful Event Indonesia and Karisma Event Nusantara.
"F8 Makassar will be held from July 24 to 28, 2024 at Anjungan Pantai Losari Makassar with the theme of unity," said Nia Niscaya in "The Weekly Brief With Nia Niscaya", Monday (15/7/2024) at Sapta Pesona Building, Jakarta.
Makassar International Eight Festival & Forum (F8 Makassar) is an event that combines various potentials of Indonesian arts, culture, and gastronomy in a festival framework of Food, Fashion, Fusion Music, Film, Fine Art, Fiction Writers, Folks, and Flora Fauna in Makassar City.
"The Unity" theme is a continuation of the previous year's theme, "The Next Gen Treasure", which explains that the various languages, cultures, and differences owned by various ethnic groups have been united at F8 Makassar.
President Director of PT Festival Delapan Indonesia, Sofyan Setiawan, explained that there are a number of innovations presented in organizing F8 Makassar this year. One of them is that on the second day of the event, there will be treats that really reflect the city of Makassar in five stage zones.
"The treats will reflect all eight creative industries, ranging from music, film, fashion, folks, and others who will perform simultaneously on the stage that we have prepared," Sofyan said.
This year, F8 Makassar will also digitize the works of creative actors in the film and fusion music subsectors, by facilitating the registration of IPR (Intellectual Property Rights) and incorporating them into the prepared platform.
"For the number of visits, last year we recorded 471 thousand people for five days, and this year we are targeting between 500 thousand and 600 thousand. Last year's transaction was Rp27 billion, this year all sectors in F8 are expected to reach the target of Rp30 billion," said Sofyan.
Head of the Makassar City Tourism Office, Muhammad Roem, said that F8 Makassar was initiated by artists and cultural experts together with the Makassar City Government in 2015 who wanted to change and strengthen the image of Makassar City through cultural channels.
"F8 became the entrance of the cultural route and then officially ran in 2016 and then entered the wonderful event and is now included in the Top 10 Karisma Event Nusantara," said Muhammad Roem.
In its journey until now, F8 Makassar has proven to be able to raise the image and brand awareness of Makassar City in the tourism sector.
"In 2023, Makassar was chosen as the location for seven national and international events involving 80 countries," said Muhammad Roem.
Deputy for Tourism Products and Events Organizers, Vincent Jemadu, appreciated Makassar's F8 which was again included in the Top 10 Karisma Event Nusantara of the Ministry of Tourism and Creative Economy.
"This is certainly not easy because it is curated by an independent team who are very expert in their fields," said Vinsen.
There are at least five things that make F8 Makassar able to re-enter the Top 10 Karisma Event Nusantara of the Ministry of Tourism and Creative Economy. The first is related to ideas or ideas where every year the event must have new ideas and ideas. Next is from the marketing side, where F8 Makassar has an official social media, logo and is very integrated in conducting promotions.
Then the third is related to event management. F8 Makassar is considered successful in managing visitors, including preparing a very large parking lot last year.
"This also includes waste management," said Vinsen.
The fourth is related to financial management and the fifth is related to impact.
"Financial management is very important so that we can see that F8 will be able to stand on its own without depending on the government. Also the expected impact this year's target of Rp30 billion I am sure will be achieved," said Vinsen.
Meanwhile, the Head of the Main Branch of Bank Sulselbar, Supriyanto, said that his party supports F8 Makassar which is expected through this event to drive the real sector.