Sandiaga Uno Calls The World Surfing League Event In Banyuwangi Will Boost The Image Of Indonesian Tourism

World Surfing Athletes in Action at the World Surfing League (WSL) Championship Tour (CT) G-Land Pro 2022 (Photo: Antara)

JAKARTA - Minister of Tourism and Creative Economy Sandiaga Uno said the World Surfing League (WSL) Championship Tour (CT) G-Land Pro 2022 event at Plengkung Beach (G-Land), Banyuwangi, East Java, would boost Indonesia's tourism image in the international arena.

In his statement, he explained that millions of people will watch this championship via streaming from various parts of the world considering that WSL has become one of the most prestigious surfing league sports tourism at the global level.

"WSL has the third highest social engagement for sporting events after the National Basketball Association (NBA) and National Football League (NFL/US football league), beating MotoGP which is in ninth position," said Sandiaga as quoted from an official statement received by VOI, Sunday.

The WSL event was officially held from last Saturday to June 6, 2022. Through this activity, it is hoped that it can revive the tourism sector and the creative economy.

The event is considered to be able to increase the duration of the visit (length of stay) of surfers for a longer time, plus an increase in the amount of costs (quality of spending) so that it will greatly affect the revival of tourism.

Director of National and International Events of the Ministry of Tourism and Creative Economy Dessy Ruhati added that sports tourism is part of profitable quality tourism because the target market is very specific and well segmented.

According to him, the sports-based tourism sector accounts for five percent of the total revenue from the travel and tourism industry.

"To achieve quality tourism, we can support sports-based tourism. This is part of the Indonesian tourism product portfolio that is consistently supported by its development and diversification," he said.

The Chairperson of the Executive Board of the Indonesian Wave Surfing Association (PB PSOI) Arya Sena Subyakto stated that the WSL event at G-Land has its own uniqueness because it is located within the Alas Purwo National Park which has several zones.

A number of these zones consist of conservation zones to public use. In the middle of the sea, a judge tower was also built as a place to judge the judges considering the waves were wavy in the middle.

This is considered to indicate that G-Land has waves with characteristics of one of the best in the world with a wavelength of up to two kilometers.

"Not all surfing tournament locations use a judge tower in the middle of the sea and currently only in Tahiti and Fiji," said Arya.

The WSL event will be broadcast through the website www.worldsurfleague.com or can be downloaded using the Android or IOS application.