Academics Suggest Sports and Tourism Become One Ministry

JAKARTA – Sports collaboration and tourist The government of President Joko Widodo (Jokowi) is considered successful. Several international sporting events are able to boost Indonesian tourism.

Some of them, MotoGP, F1 Powerboat, and the U-17 World Cup are able to boost the country’s foreign exchange. Not only that, the community can make a profit from this event.

Researcher at the Public Administration and Policy Laboratory (FISIP) at the University of Lampung, Dodi Faedlulloh, said that this success was an encouragement for the sustainability of the next government to combine two different institutions, namely sports and tourism.

“By holding sports agendas, cultural festivals and tourism, Indonesia can attract a global audience, improve the economy and of course international orientation,” said Dodi, Wednesday (6/3/2024).

Through this collaboration, the government should make strategic and proactive policies by transforming government institutions, one of which is daring to make sports and tourism a public agenda in a separate ministry.

“The President-elect deserves to consider this idea, because the relationship between sports and tourism has now developed much over time. Globalization factors also play an important role in the development of sports tourism,” he said.

Including bureaucratic reform, this effort is a form of streamlining government functions. This is because combining administrative and financial resources in one ministry allows the creation of a more efficient governance model.

Thus, redundancy and encouraging development strategies in the fields of sports and tourism. Programs that previously ran in parallel can now be integrated by inviting community participation.

“Young people as stakeholders from the Ministry of Youth and Sports can be embraced and empowered in the sports and tourism industry in the future,” said Dodi.

Through dynamic energy and innovative ideas, they can contribute to the development of sports and tourism, thus opening up employment opportunities for the younger generation and increasing economic growth.

So far, Dodi has seen that countries such as Spain, Croatia, Thailand, including South Korea have succeeded in combining their sports and tourism ministries. These countries are fully aware of the link between sport and tourism and the combined potential of the two to encourage economic growth, cultural exchange and national branding.

(jon)