The West Papua Provincial Government, in collaboration with the Indonesian Surfing Association (PSOI), is organizing an international surfing competition in 2024 at Amban Beach, Manokwari Regency, over five days from December 1-5, 2024.
The Acting Governor of West Papua, Ali Baham Temongmere, in Manokwari on Sunday, stated that the international-scale event is an effort by both the provincial and local district governments to promote the development of tourism potential.
“Each district in West Papua has its own specific potential, and Manokwari has the potential for surfing,” said Temongmere.
He acknowledged that the promotion of surfing potential has not been done in a major way, yet the implementation of this international-scale event has brought together 40 athletes from seven countries along with several regions in Indonesia.
International athletes participating in the Manokwari World Surf League Series QS1000 Mens, Women, and Junior events come from Japan, Australia, Malaysia, France, the United States, the United Kingdom, and Spain after signing a cooperation agreement with PSOI.
“Next year, the surfing event will be held even better, and the promotion strategy needs to be improved,” said Temongmere.
Acting Head of the West Papua Tourism Office, Yakobus Basongan, explained that the local government has considered establishing a surfing competition as an annual event to promote tourist destinations.
This has a positive impact on the local government’s efforts to increase the number of tourist visits to the West Papua region, and the implementation of the surfing event will be thoroughly evaluated to determine the possibility of raising its level.
“If the level can rise from QS1000 to QS3000 and then QS5000, then more international surfing athletes can participate,” said Yakobus.
According to him, the potential for surfing is not only in Manokwari but also in other districts such as Fakfak, Teluk Wondama, and Kaimana, but it needs to be directly identified by the Asian Surf Cooperative (ASC) as a professional surfing organization.
Therefore, the provincial government also invited regional heads from all over West Papua to attend the opening of the international surfing competition at Amban Beach, Manokwari, so they could present their respective potentials.
“But unfortunately, the heads of the five districts were absent. All have potential except for Pegunungan Arfak and Teluk Bintuni,” he added.
West Papua Now 