Jakarta was one step away from hiring some very expensive foreign influencers to promote tourism in the city, but the plan was scrapped before city councillors could even tap follow.
Recently, a copy of the Jakarta’s proposed 2020 budget went viral, showing that IDR5 billion (US$356K) was earmarked for the hiring of five influencers from abroad to promote the city to their followers.
After some public backlash over the idea of paying someone who wrote “wanderlust” for their Instagram profile description IDR1 billion to say how cool Monas (the National Monument) is, the Jakarta city administration said that the program has been scrapped from the proposal.
“What’s clear is that the program is no longer there; it has been erased,” Jakarta Tourism and Culture Agency Secretary Asiantoro told reporters Sunday, as quoted by Kompas.
“[We had the idea to hire] influencers from abroad with huge numbers of followers.”
Asiantoro did not say which influencers the city had in mind for the program, nor why the program was eventually scrapped.
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