To grow, sports industry needs to collaborate with tourism

Palembang, S Sumatra (ANTARA Sumsel) - Indonesian sports industry is yet to be able to stand on its own and will need to collaborate with the tourism sector to boost its growth, said the Ministry of Youth and Sports Affairs expert staff, Djoko Pekik.

"The sports sector doesn`t have a solid footing yet so it will need to team up with other sectors. Tourism looks promising as the collaboration can be wrapped with `sports tourism` as the theme, such as Tour De Singkarak and marathons that are popular at the moment," said Djoko following his speech at a sports training in Palembang on Friday.

He stated that it is time for the sports industry to gain more recognition as it provides just as much opportunity as other sectors when it comes to welfare to the nation.

Referring to the history of the emergence of sports in Indonesia back in 1984 at the Los Angeles Olympics, it is fitting to have sports as a main component in a country.

"It was held by private parties, but since then, the Olympic continues until now," said the former Deputy for Guidance Achievement of the Ministry of Youth and Sports Affairs.

He hopes that private parties in Indonesia would take the opportunity in becoming organizers for sporting events.

If the course has long been started, the 2011 SEA Games in Indonesia would not have take up budget and state revenues, seeing there would be funds from the private sector.

"It is time for a mindset shift that the sports industry is a matter of cooperation and working together, rather than just the Ministry of Youth and Sports Affairs. The President hopes that the Asian Games could only use the minimum amount of budget and state revenues, under the terms that it must improve investment climate." he said again.

Djoko observed that the lack of of involvement from the private sector is most likely to be affected by non-technical factors including the investment climate that is yet to be competitive.

"In most cases, achieving clearance for crowded events is complicated and takes a long time. Not to mention other obstacles that cause them to be reluctant in getting involved," he noted.