The Riau Islands Special Batik Exhibition Attracts 1,500 Visitors To Get Transactions Of Rp. 30 Million

JAKARTA - The Kepri Batik Exhibition, which was held by the Riau Islands Province Tourism Office (Kepri) from 19-20 March 2022, managed to generate a total transaction of around Rp. 30 million from the booths participating in the exhibition and bazaar.

"Meanwhile, the number of visits is around 1,500 people," said Head of the Tourism Development Division of the Riau Islands Provincial Government, Afitri Susanti, quoted by Antara, Sunday, March 20.

According to him, this event was a success with the public's interest in batik was so great. It is proven in the Riau Islands Batik in 2022, the most sold batik gonggong with a total of around Rp. 16 million.

The gonggong batik, which has become a garment, is the most in demand and purchased by visitors. He did not expect that in two days, the public's interest in owning a typical Kepri batik was that high.

"At most, yes batik barking. In addition to cloth, most clothes. There are also a lot of people who buy Tanjak (hats) typical of Malays," he said.

He hopes that the implementation of the Batik Kepri can encourage people's love for regional batik, as well as improve the economy of local business actors in order to increase the spirit of doing business and work in the new normal due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

In addition, it can also help increase the number of domestic tourist movements in Riau Islands, this can be seen from the movement of groups of exhibition participants from regencies/cities outside Batam which have directly driven the culinary, transportation and accommodation sectors as well as other small and medium business sectors.

"Hopefully this economic movement will enlarge and multiply when the Riau Islands batik goes international," he said.