Bangka Belitung eyes sports tourism to lure foreign tourists
The annual Toboali City On Fire tourism festival in South Bangka regency, Bangka Belitung Islands, is set to return on July 25 to 28 with a variety of programs combining culture, tourism and sports.
The festival is among Bangka Belitung's three highlighted tourism events included in this year's 100 Calendar of Events. The other two are the Bangka Cultural Wave Festival in Sungai Liat and Tanjung Kelayang Festival in Belitung.
Among the activities planned are the Bikepacker Tour de Habang, Toboali Fashion Carnival, Toboali Photo Competition, Regional Dance Festival, painting contest, Toboali Mural Festival, Habang Band Festival, kite festival, Telok Serujo Festival, culinary festival, Buang Jung ritual, motorcycle community tour, micro, small and medium enterprises (MSME) exhibition, fishing competition, photography competition, photo exhibition, fish cooking contest and Toboali Food Street Festival.
Bangka Belitung Governor Erzaldi Rosman said sports tourism was among ways the administration would focus on to increase foreign tourist arrivals.
As quoted by tempo.co on Thursday, he added that related to the sports tourism plan, discussion was ongoing with the Tourism Ministry to make Bangka Belitung a venue for the Formula 1 Powerboat World Championship, also known as H2O Racing or F1H2O.
"While Lombok [Mandalika] hosts F1 on the land, we’ll host F1H2O on the water," Erzaldi said. (dmy/kes)