'TOUR DE TIMOR' TO COMBINE SPORTS AND TOURISM

By Andi Abdussalam

Jakarta, Nov 26 (Antara) - One of the sectors that contribute to a country's economic development is tourism, which is now being combined with working out as a lifestyle exercised to maintain health.          Tourism has included sports events to attract tourists. These two things are important for tourism development in any countries, including Indonesia and Timor Leste, in what is called sports tourism. Sports tourism, among others, covers running or marathon, biking and rock climbing events at specific tourism destinations.           As part of its efforts to promote and advance its tourism sector, Indonesia is now active in developing its sports tourism through the launch of various sports events such as running, cycling and rock climbing in its tourism destinations.          Especially in the cycling events, it has organized several cycling races in various regions such as the Tour de Singkarak in West Sumatra, Tour de Makassar in South Sulawesi, Tour de Siak in Riau, Tour de Borobudur in Central Java and even Tour de Indonesia, which was halted for five years and is now back again.          At the end of this month, Indonesia is planning to organize a cycling race to promote its tourism sector.          East Nusa Tenggara Province, which shares borders with Timor Leste, will be hosting the 2016 Tour de Timor cycling race championship from November 30 to December 4.

'TOUR DE INDONESIA' IS COMING BACK

by Andi Abdussalam

Jakarta, Nov 22 (Antara) - The Central Executive Board of the Indonesian Sports Cycling Association (PB ISSI) will revive Indonesia's prestigious cycling race 'Tour de Indonesia' (TdI), by organizing it again next year, after five years of hiatus.          Scheduled to be held in July 2017, the TdI, which usually starts from Jakarta to Bali, will cover a route of seven stages from Banten in the western part of Java to Banyuwangi in the easternmost region of the island.         "The TdI is designed to become an archipelagic cycling race series and serve as a benchmark for other regions which have cycling tour programs in Indonesia such as the 'Tour de Singkarak', 'Tour de Siak' and others," PB ISSI General Chairman Raja Sapta Oktohari said after the soft launch of the TdI last week (Nov 9).          The TdI will be the biggest cycling event in Indonesia. Its soft launching was held first to ensure that it would be organized after five years. It will be held in July 2017 to coincide with the National Championship schedule of the Union Cycliste Internationale/International Cycling Union (UCI).