If there is one thing that keeps cyclists from around the world returning to the Tour de Singkarak race besides its challenging mountainous route, it is the natural beauty of West Sumatra.

The competition, held since 2009, has become one of the province’s mainstay sport events. Besides providing an opportunity for local cyclists to measure their abilities against international opponents, the Tour de Singkarak is also an opportunity for the province to promote itself through sports tourism.

Sports tourism refers to travel to participate in or watch sporting events. Sport tourism is the fastest-growing sector in global tourism and is estimated to be worth US$800 billion according to Reuters.

Blessed with natural beauty, Indonesia has all the assets to become a hub of sports tourism. However, the Tour de Singkarak is of the few successful examples of sports tourism in the country.

This is because the country’s rich resources have yet to be fully utilized, meaning its development of sports tourism continues to lag.

Even the Tour de Singkarak struggles to stay on the road each year, especially after budgetary issues have led to subpar promotion, especially for 2018’s race.

“The promotion has been a bit lacking. It’s been hard because the budget is small,” West Sumatra Tourism Agency head Oni Yulfian told The Jakarta Post last November during the event’s 10th anniversary.

All Oni could do was to encourage local businesses to create tourist packages that featured the Tour de Singkarak. “But we only managed to do it this year in Padang Panjang [municipality].”

But money was not all that was needed, a governmental officer said.

“It also relies on the will of each provincial administration across the country to take advantage of the sports tourism potential in their respective areas,” said Mohammad Rudy Salahuddin, the Office of the Coordinating Economic Minister’s deputy head for overseeing the creative economy, entrepreneurship and the competitiveness of cooperative and small and medium enterprises.

Rudy said some provinces had successfully held events, including by providing sports venues. However, many others remained unaware of the growing trend of sports tourism despite their clear potential.

“Developing sports tourism is actually about the creativity of the heads of regions that already have adequate infrastructure.

“Ironically, provinces like East Kalimantan and Riau, which have hosted the PON [National Games], fail to keep sporting events alive once the PON is over,” Rudy told the Post in a recent interview, referring to the country’s national quadrennial multisport event.

“Let’s not talk about organizing [another] multisport event — they can’t even hold a single-sport event. This leaves [the existing sports venues] deserted,” he added.

Apart from a lack of initiative among many regional heads, sports tourism is also not among the 16 subsectors overseen by the country’s Creative Economy Agency (Bekraf).

Ideally, Rudy said, sports tourism would have Bekraf’s support so that better policy could be developed.

On the brighter side, provinces such as South Sumatra, West Java, Bali and Lombok have made consistent efforts to tap into the growing global trend.

Palembang, which co-hosted the 18th Asian Games last year and the 26th Southeast Asian (SEA) Games in 2011, has continued to host various sports events. This year, Palembang plans to host at least five world championship events in rowing, sports climbing, sepak takraw, bowling and beach volleyball.

“We’re continuing to look for ways to use the JSC [Jakabaring Sport City] complex, hence the five world championship events,” South Sumatra Governor Alex Noerdin said as quoted by kompas.com.

Meanwhile, the West Java administration has chosen to focus sports tourism development in Bandung, Cirebon, Karawang and Sukabumi as well as Tasikmalaya and Ciamis in the province’s south.

West Java Tourism and Cultural Agency head Dedi Taufik said that Sukabumi regency had tremendous potential for tourism aimed at sports enthusiasts.

The Ciletuh Geopark was perfect for paragliding, while Cimaja Beach would please surfers and the Cikidang River would challenge rafters, he added.

The Bandung Explorer community has also been actively promoting sports tourism by organizing the Bandung Ultra 100 trail run since 2017.

As one of the world’s most popular tourist destinations, Bali has been flirting with sports tourism for quite some time, especially in surfing, marathons and triathlons. However, the events are held irregularly.

“Dozens of international sports events are held here annually. Unfortunately, they have not been listed on Bali’s event agenda. They are treated just as sporting events, and have not received proper promotion as tourist events,” Bali Tourism Agency head Anak Agung Gede Yuniartha Putra told the Post.

He mentioned the World Surf League (WSL), the Maybank Bali Marathon and the Bali International Triathlon as among the regular events and highlighted their international participation.

“When [the organizers] announce any sporting events in Bali, many people around the world are enthusiastic to join in,” said Yuniartha.   

Last year’s WSL competition at Keramas Beach in Gianyar gave a boost to the local economy.

“The last WSL event in Keramas pushed hotel occupancy up to 90 percent, as participants also brought their families and supporters with them,” said Yuniartha, adding that even without such events, tourists would come to Bali to surf anyway.

To improve sports tourism in Bali, Yuniartha said his office would coordinate with the province’s youth and sports agency to list all events on the island. “We will include some international sports events on our tourism calendar so we can play a role in promoting them,” he added.

Bali also needs sporting venues that meet international standards, such as a better soccer stadium.“Can you imagine if Manchester United played in Bali? Many supporters would follow them here,” said Yuniartha.

Bali’s neighboring island of Lombok, which has promoted sports tourism in the Mandalika Special Economic Zone, is still recovering from a 7.0-magnitude earthquake that hit the area in August 2018.

To encourage tourists to return to the region, local businesses, under the Association of Gili Trawangan Entrepreneurs (APGT), the Association of Gili Hotels (GHA) and the Gili Eco Trust, cooperated to host the Gili Strong Triathlon 2018 last December.

Lombok will host at least nine sporting events this year, including the second edition of the Gili Strong Triathlon following its positive reception last year.

In addition, Mandalika will also become home to a new MotoGP street circuit.

Indonesia Tourism Development Corporation (ITDC) general affairs director Gusti Lanang Bratasuta said France-based Vinci Construction Grands Projects would build the circuit. “The MotoGP circuit is expected to be an icon of Lombok, which will make it among the country’s top sports tourism destinations.”

Meanwhile, East Java continues to work on promoting the Bromo Marathon, held since 2013.

The Tourism Ministry has supported the event by promoting it to an international audience. In 2018, the marathon welcomed 1,380 runners from 39 countries.

Bromo Marathon founder Dedi Kurniawan said the race had boosted homestay occupancy to 400 rooms during the event.

“Now, the room rate is Rp 250,000 [$17.68], available for three persons,” said Dedi, adding that the event was organized by Tosari village’s 200 residents.

— Wahyoe Boediwardhana contributed to this article from Pasuruan, East Java.

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