Pramono to Offer Free Transport and Tourism During Jakarta's 500th Anniversary

Jakarta Governor Pramono Anung Wibowo has announced that the city will waive fees for public transport and municipally managed tourist attractions during the 500th anniversary of Jakarta. The free access will be provided for five days next year. Pramono stated that the Jakarta Provincial Government had only offered three days of free services this year, on 22, 27, and 28 June, to celebrate the city’s 499th anniversary. He noted that the initiative resulted in a surge of public enjoyment of transport and tourist sites. “While other regions are raising taxes, we are providing tax incentives when people are seeking taxes. For instance, during Eid, New Year, and recently during Jakarta’s anniversary, I waived transport fares for three days. What happened? All the places we eased or made free broke records,” Pramono said in Jakarta on Tuesday. He explained that visits to several tourist attractions in Jakarta broke records on Sunday, 28 June, when the provincial government waived entry fees. Ragunan Zoo saw 135,500 visitors that day. “That has never happened before, because usually it is around 110,000 people,” Pramono said. He also claimed that tourist visits to Ancol and the National Monument hit their highest levels, and museum visits increased significantly. “Some museums were visited by up to 30,000 people. A museum being visited by 30,000 people in one day is extraordinary,” Pramono remarked. He said the data shows that the public enjoyed the provincial government’s policy of providing free transport and tourist attractions, a policy designed to make Jakarta residents happy.