There is no doubt that the natural beauty and landscape in Indonesia is one of the best in the world. Many tourists are willing to spend some money to come here and enjoy its beauty.
However, the ongoing pandemic has made the tourism sector in Indonesia weak. Many tourism actors have to rack their brains so that their business in this sector can continue to run.
One of the strategies to continue to survive is to develop the potential that exists in this natural beauty. Instead of exposing the scenery and the landscape, tourism actors can start to see the potential of sports tourism in Indonesia.
What is Sports Tourism?
As the name implies, sport tourism is a new concept that combines nature tourism and sports. The variety of scenic contours in every region of Indonesia makes our country have the potential to have a variety of interesting sports tourism.
Sport tourism – from the katadata site, it is said that it can be one of the fundamentals for the rise of tourism in Indonesia. Not only the government, but the community – local community can take benefit from this new concept.
What is an Example of Sports Tourism?
Still from the same site, Minister of Tourism and Creative Economy Sandiaga Uno said sports tourism was one of adaption and innovation in the midst of a pandemic. Organizing major sporting events is one of the efforts to attract world tourists to come to Indonesia.
According to the Ministry of Tourism and Creative Economy, innovation in sports tourism is still very broad and has the potential to continue to develop further. This will certainly the benefit for the community because one of the values that can be raised is the local wisdom of each region.
Indonesia itself already has several well-known sports tourism; such as the Tour de Singkarak Bike Race in West Sumatera, The Borobudur Marathon in Central Java, and Sail Sabang in Aceh. For the recently held – there is WSBK at the Mandalika Circuit West Nusa Tenggara.
The United Nations World Tourism Organization explains that sports tourism is a trend in the tourism sector which has a large market. Therefore, it is predicted that the development of sports tourism in Indonesia will certainly bring huge profits as well.
The benefits or economic impacts that exist can certainly be directly felt by the community. For the example, the needs of foreign tourists who require lodging accommodation, transportation, restaurants to entertainment venues – all of these things can be utilized and developed by the local communities.
Insight For Brands
Seeing the huge potential in sports tourism – brands, marketers, and other parties certainly do not want to miss their role here. However, they must know in advance what part can be the basis for their next strategic move.
Some interesting insights from this desk research are:
The local wisdom of each region can be the persona of every activity of the sport tourism.
Before winning the hearts of the target audience – the local community is the first part to be approached.
Sponsorship can still be the basis for brands in their movement to play a role in organizing sports tourism.
So, What Brands Can Do?
Looking at the brief explanation and insight above – there are several steps that brands can take to play a role in developing sports tourism in Indonesia.
The first step that brands can take is to conduct research or surveys to find out what the community and tourism actors need in adapting or innovating during the pandemic, especially for this sports tourism.
After getting the results of the research or survey – brand can assemble the fundamentals of the movement that will be carried out. A campaign that can have a positive impact on tourism actors is one that is recommended.
Massive media coverage could be the next step that brands can take. Exposure is one of the things in the campaign formula that can even be a parameter to see the success of the campaign.
However, apart from a few things that have been explained – one that is quite important and needs to be remembered in playing a role in the development of sport tourism is the spirit to help each other.
The concept of sports tourism is indirectly a gateway to open new jobs and positive economic impacts for local communities and related tourism actors. Therefore, brands need to be careful in determining the tone and style of communication if they want to carry out a campaign like this as an effort to play a role in this sports tourism.
